Off-topic, and haven't read the article, but: oh my, what a marvelous site, and to think it's under a decade old. I've only skimmed a few of the articles, but this is an instant subscribe to print delivery for me. They must have a sizeable endowment or something to be so new and to still have print editions.
Lewis Lapham has a very successful career as a writer and editor behind him, and Lapham's Quarterly is basically his startup.
It's a wonderful publication; the print edition is pretty much the only magazine I've bothered to buy for the past few years. In my mind, it is exactly what periodicals should be about in the age of the internet: not instant news (for which the internet is a much better medium), but collections of essays/writings that won't expire.
Also off-topic but I decided to look up Mr. Lapham, who is 81 years old, and started clicking through the Wikipedia articles of his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great-great grandfather (in this order, below) - all of them prominent men.
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- Lewis Abbot Lapham (1909 – 1995) was an American shipping and banking executive. Lapham worked as a journalist, columnist, and editor for the San Francisco Examiner for six years.
- Roger Dearborn Lapham (1883 – 1966) was a shipowner and businessman who served as the 32nd mayor of San Francisco from 1944 to 1948.
- Lewis Henry Lapham (1858 – 1934) was an American entrepreneur who made a fortune consolidating smaller business in the leather industry. He was also one of the founders of Texaco Oil Company. He was also actor Christopher Lloyd's maternal grandfather.
- Henry Griffith Lapham (1822 - 1888) I could only find the information in the image (http://i.imgur.com/WH2wd0m.png), but it seems to point to him also being successful in the leather business.
I highly recommend subscribing. I have no connection to Lapham's Quarterly whatsoever. I am just a happy subscriber.
Each issue is themed. The article is from Summer 2016's LQ, with, as you'd suspect, the theme of "Luck". Each issue opens with a long essay/rumination from Lewis Lapham. He is a fabulous writer.
Then, you are given writings from throughout history, all centered around the theme. The presentation is lively and interesting. You might see a piece from a 17th century author juxtaposed with a photo from the 21st century. There will usually be some beautiful infographics related to the theme.
I generally read through each issue with my commonplace book at hand so I can transcribe interesting things I find within.
A lot of the more literary "news-magazines" have really kept the standard for editorial quality, whether publishing on the Internet or offline. The Paris Review, Lapham's Quarterly, Public Domain Review, etc are uniformly excellent -- and I only know of them because of HN.
Laphman has reminisced in a few of his essays about growing up in his august family in San Francisco - wonderful memories, windows into bygone eras. The pleasure of reading his essays, as for the magazine itself, lies in the prose itself even more than the ideas.
