Life (magazine)
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Life has been the name of two notable magazines published in the United States.
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LIFE, the photojournalism magazine
The best known is LIFE, the photojournalism magazine founded by Henry Luce in 1936 and owned by Time Warner. Its first issue was dated November 23.
LIFE was published weekly until dwindling circulations for magazines as a whole, coupled with rising advertising rates, caused the magazine to print its final weekly issue in December 1972 (its annual "Year in Review" edition). From there, LIFE was published fortnightly from 1974 to 1978, and was restarted as a monthly magazine in October, 1978. A weekly Life in Time of War was published for a month or two during the first Gulf War. Monthly publication ceased in 2000.
LIFE's original mission was "to see life; see the world." The magazine has published some of the most iconic images of events in the United States and the world.
LIFE 2004
Starting in October 2004, LIFE resumed weekly publication, this time as a supplement to U.S. newspapers. At its launch, it was distributed with over seventy newspapers; these had a combined circulation of over 12 million:
Alaska
Arizona
California
- Contra Costa Times
- Los Angeles Times
- Merced Sun-Star
- San Jose Mercury News
- San Luis Obispo Tribune
- Fresno Bee
- Modesto Bee
- Monterey County Herald
- Sacramento Bee
Colorado
Connecticut
Florida
- Bradenton Herald
- El Nuevo Herald
- Orlando Sentinel
- South Florida Sun-Sentinel
- St. Petersburg Times
- Tallahassee Democrat
- Miami Herald
Georgia
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Massachusetts
Maryland
Michigan
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Minnesota
Missouri
Mississippi
North Carolina
North Dakota
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
- Centre Daily Times
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- The Morning Call
- Philadelphia Daily News
- Philadelphia Inquirer
- Times Leader
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Virginia
Washington
Wisconsin
LIFE's ten most important events of the second millennium
The magazine ranked its top ten events of the millennium:
- Bookprint (Johann Gutenberg, 1455)
- Discovery of New World (Christopher Columbus, 1492)
- A new major religion (Martin Luther, 1527)
- Steam engine starts industrial revolution (James Watt, 1769)
- Earth revolves around sun (Galileo Galilei, 1610)
- Germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur, 1864; Robert Koch,1876)
- Gunpowder weapons (China, 1100)
- Declaration of independence (US, 1776)
- Adolf Hitler comes to power (1933)
- Compass goes to sea (China, 1117)
This list has been criticised for being overly focused on Western achievements. For example, the Chinese also invented a variant of book print long before Gutenberg, and until the mid 18th century the bulk of the world's printed material was Chinese.
LIFE's 100 most important people of the second millennium
The magazine also published a list of the "100 Most Important People in the Last 1000 Years":
This list, too, was sometimes criticized. Edison's number one ranking was challenged since there were others whose inventions (combustion engine, car, electricity-making machines, for example) which had greater impact than Edison's. The top 100 list was further criticised for mixing world-famous people, such as Newton and Einstein and Luther and da Vinci, with numerous Americans largely unknown outside of the United States.
Well-known employees
- Alfred Eisenstaedt (photojournalist)
- Margaret Bourke-White (photojournalist)
- Robert Capa (photojournalist)
- Gordon Parks (photojournalist)
- Lee Miller (photojournalist)
Life 1880s-1920s
The first "Life Magazine" was a weekly publication put out by the Life Publishing Company of Manhattan, New York City. It was known for its cartoons, pin up girl art, humorous pieces, and reviews of theater and cinema.
In 1908 Robert Ripley publishes his first cartoon in Life, Ripley in turn becomes first publisher of Charles Schulz, of Peanuts fame.
In 1918 Charles Dana Gibson became the magazine's president.
External links
- Life magazine website (http://www.life.com/Life/)
- Life's Millennium list I (http://www.life.com/Life/millennium/events/01.html)
- Life's Millennium list II (http://www.life.com/Life/millennium/people/01.html)
- LIFE to Return as Weekend Magazine (http://www.timewarner.com/corp/newsroom/pr/0,20812,670450,00.html)de:Life