Famous Zine Alert: The Baffler Has Risen From the Dead

In the pre-blog days of the 1990s, some of us used to publish things called zines -- printed matter containing alternative or offbeat observations that wouldn't fit into mainstream magazines owned by Conde Nast. The Baffler was one such zine, which rose to prominence on the strength of its quirky-smart writing, punk rock politics, and indie aesthetic. Its editor, Thomas Frank, has gone pro in the days since his zine stopped appearing in bookstores like Quimby's or Needles and Pens. He's an internationally-known public intellectual, author of the bestseller What's the Matter with Kansas?, and a dapper retro dresser who prefers styles that would have looked just swell on H.L. Mencken back in the 1930s.

It's been years since Frank has put out an issue of The Baffler, but lo and behold a new issue has just arrived in fine indie bookstores everywhere. Josh Glenn, editor of another brilliant but defunct zine called Hermenaut, just read it. Find out what he says after the jump.

Glenn writes:

I'm relieved to report that the magazine is as gimlet-eyed as ever.
Of particular note: Frank's merciless critique of that Beltway shibboleth, "centrism," and Jim Arndorfer's twisted history of the funding that has supported conservative think tanks like the American
Enterprise Institute.

This is top-notch political writing, but the Baffler is also a literary magazine. I was particularly fascinated by Steve Evans's cynical explanation of Ruth Lilly's $100 million bequest to Poetry magazine. (Spoiler alert: It has something to do with Big
Pharma and a scandalous political payoff.) The best essay in the issue, however, is "William Burroughs: My Part in His Downfall," in which the
Scottish novelist, critic, and political journalist Andrew O'Hagan
(a) relates the story of how he happened to be visiting Burroughs on the very day that the Beat novelist died, in 1997, and (b) cops, in the most intellectually charming manner possible, to the innumerable flourishes he's added to the story since then.

What are you waiting for? Snap up a copy at your local bookstore, or order it online.