Boston Review

BOSTON REVIEW has slowly built a respected reputation among academics and the general reading public during the past twenty-nine years. Articles and essays in a recent edition covered topics such as the Constitution, an immigration crisis in the European Union and the Patriot Act. The contents also included poetry, fiction, nonfiction reviews, letters and a film review. Among the contributors were Elaine Scarry, Larry Kramer, Michael Standaert, Corey Robin and Barbara Clark Smith.

The journal sees itself as a national forum for political debate and boasts about the fact that it is required reading in a course on cultural criticism and critical argument given by the Brown University English department. It appears to be a moderately left-leaning publication but of course that kind of assessment depends on one's vantage point (I am a registered independent). The periodical is highly readable and you don't have to be an academic to enjoy it.

Readers will change as this new format continues with a more commercial slant than it used to be. Sorry to see this once-exceptional publication slack off and turn more mundane to reach more readers. Dull cliched poems now when once more daring verse was presented. Dissapointing to me especially because I think poetry should be engaged with political and social issues instead of bathtubs or blue eyes, etc. There is so much going on in the world that needs coverage and introspection, and, sadly, Boston Review does not deliver it any more.

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