HARPER'S MAGAZINE

            Harper's Magazine (also called Harper's) is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in June 1850, it is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. It was founded under the publication company Harper and Brothers. My magazine context section features a historical overview of Harper's Magazine and how the literary superpower got to where it is today. The magazine started out with strict principles: only the best of the best from English and American authors. Harper’s would pay a premium to get material from elite contributors to its offices much faster than the submissions sent to other magazines at the time. By 1951, Harper’s was known for its unique way of presenting political, social, economic, and military issues to its subscribers. One of the methods was presenting issues in the form of “short stories," creating an alternative take on a given situation in the form of fiction. “The Cyclists’ Raid” is a prime example of this method, and the fashion of this “news reporting” was what drew me to this topic as a whole.