Principles and Heresies

The New York Review of Books oc-copies a peculiar spot in American journalism. Granted that it is ostensibly a book-review organ and that it usually contains one or two excellent and authoritative reviews, nevertheless it has become primarily a political organ—so much so that a wit has dubbed it “The New York Review of Vietnam.”

The role it plays politically is a strategic one. While its own position has moved steadily to the left over the past few years, it has throughout performed a consistent function, that of an intellectual link between left liberalism and the radical world of the New Left, the Black Panthers and the SDS. Its steady leftward slippage simply reflects the cumulative intransigence of the New Left. To maintain its connection with radicalism, the New York Review has had to run as fast as it can to stay in the same place.

FS

About the Author

Frank S. Meyer

Frank S. Meyer was a senior editor of National Review.

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The New York Review of Books oc-copies a peculiar spot in American journalism. Granted that it is ostensibly a book-review organ and that it usually contains one or two excellent and authoritative reviews, nevertheless it has become primarily a political organ—so much so that a wit has dubbed it “The New York Review of Vietnam.”

The role it plays politically is a strategic one. While its own position has moved steadily to the left over the past few years, it has throughout performed a consistent function, that of an intellectual link between left liberalism and the radical world of the New Left, the Black Panthers and the SDS. Its steady leftward slippage simply reflects the cumulative intransigence of the New Left. To maintain its connection with radicalism, the New York Review has had to run as fast as it can to stay in the same place.