American Heritage Magazine: A Brief Review of the July 06 Issue

I'm not a subscriber, but have recently received a few sample copies of American Heritage magazine. The July 2006 issue came in the mail two or three days ago. For the first time I've read substantial portions of it.

What a find! American Heritage is a glossy, three or four-color, bi-monthly periodical, and part of the Forbes publication group. After checking their website, I discovered the magazine has been in print just over 50 years. All past issues are archived online. I looked over the table of contents of an early, December 1955 issue. It contained articles from historians such as Stuart Holbrook and Perry Miller.

In the current issue, I really enjoyed a piece about HBO's Deadwood series. I'm not a historian of the American West, but Allen Barra, the article's author, discussed both literary and screen (TV and film) antecedents of the series in an interview with David Milch, the creator/writer/producer of the series. For instance, I knew nothing of Dashiell Hammett - aside from his unique name - so a sidebar on Hammett's Red Harvest was informative. Many people have told me about the excessive use of profanity on Deadwood, so I was pleased the Barra asked about that topic. Milch's answer was that his portrayal of the period's language is rooted in his reading of informal letters, diaries, and memoirs from the time - as well as his study of H.L. Mencken's The American Language.

I've never liked the term 'cocktail.' In this same issue, there is a page-long article (bottom of link) on the term's etymology. Apparently the French term coquetier, dating from around 1800, is the frontrunner for most relevant antecedent.

I'm in the middle of reading a piece called "What Would the Founders Do Today?" I started it on the train last night, but am reasonably impressed after reading two-thirds.

All in all, I'm pleased. If everyone took an interest in American Heritage, we'd have an American public more literate in its own history. - TL