I’ve held off celebrating the new Commentary under John Podhoretz. His move to editor was controversial. He’s a friend. I wanted to see how it turned out before making any pronouncements, etc. But I’ve got to say that it’s now clear: the magazine really has been revitalized. There’s a weird change that happens to magazines when they reboot successfully. The New Republic and the Atlantic under Michael Kelly just . . . popped. There was always something worth reading, always something you didn’t think you’d want to read but were glad you did after. Something similar has happened to Commentary. The latest double-sized summer issue is what finally prompted me to say something. It’s just crammed with great stuff. If you’re looking for some emergency reading to carry around with you when you travel this Summer, you could do a hell of a lot worse than the newest issue of Commentary.

(Oh, and I respond to some letters about my Obama & Socialism essay in it).