Timestyle

There is scarcely a more just reflection of our age than in the bright surface of Time magazine. As Mr. Luce’s own writers would phrase it for him: “My Time is your time.” To have one’s face emerge from the crowd reflected in that mirror—to be on Time’s cover—is the reward of success in modern America. And behind that cover, every aspect of our life is accurately mirrored back upon itself. That is why the nation pays every week to look into her mirror on the wall, always finding, of course, that she is fairest of them all.

It is not a lying mirror that causes this smugness. It is the natural vanity of anyone standing before a mirror which makes us misread the reflection. After all, the magazine does shine with our virtues. Its matter is collected, its reporting sped, its format stamped out by all the marvels of modern achievement. Our interest in every area of the world, every “cultural event,” is matched by the ability of great iron genii to satisfy that interest.

GW

About the Author

Garry Wills

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There is scarcely a more just reflection of our age than in the bright surface of Time magazine. As Mr. Luce’s own writers would phrase it for him: “My Time is your time.” To have one’s face emerge from the crowd reflected in that mirror—to be on Time’s cover—is the reward of success in modern America. And behind that cover, every aspect of our life is accurately mirrored back upon itself. That is why the nation pays every week to look into her mirror on the wall, always finding, of course, that she is fairest of them all.

It is not a lying mirror that causes this smugness. It is the natural vanity of anyone standing before a mirror which makes us misread the reflection. After all, the magazine does shine with our virtues. Its matter is collected, its reporting sped, its format stamped out by all the marvels of modern achievement. Our interest in every area of the world, every “cultural event,” is matched by the ability of great iron genii to satisfy that interest.