The American Agora Foundation/Lapham's Quarterly

Established in 2007 by former Harper’s Magazine editor Lewis H. Lapham, the American Agora Foundation and Lapham’s Quarterly exist to champion the belief that historical consciousness is an asset a democratic republic can ill afford to lose, that history is the root of all education—social and scientific; spiritual, political, and economic.

Each issue of Lapham's Quarterly focuses on a question of primary and always current concern (recent issue topics include democracy, epidemic, technology, and climate) by placing the voices and witnesses of the past at the service of the present. Eighty or ninety texts are drawn from great works of history and literature, from ancient to contemporary and from around the world—the great books made topical and accessible. The publication has expanded its audience in each year of its existence and the print magazine now reaches 40,000 readers in all 50 states. The Quarterly’s loyal readership demonstrates a resilient market for intellectual thought in a volatile publishing industry.

Our efforts to expand our national and global reach have made Lapham’s Quarterly a pacesetter in open access digital content. Our website (laphamsquarterly.org) features a digital edition of the magazine; original essays about history, literature, and ideas by a range of writers and scholars; more than a thousand extracts from great works of history and literature, from ancient to contemporary; and popular features such as Déjà vu, which holds up current events to resonant stories from the past. The World in Time, a biweekly podcast featuring Lewis Lapham in conversation with leading historians, writers, and thinkers, has reached more than two million listeners in 50 countries since its re-launch in 2018. And all of our virtual content, with exception of complete digital Lapham’s Quarterly issues, is available free of charge, without registration, subscription, or paywall. Our annual online readership currently exceeds 3 million and our expanding digital audience also includes more than 50,000 newsletter subscribers, 80,000 Facebook fans, and 50,000 Twitter followers.

Since inception, the foundation and magazine have worked to enhance humanities education in under- resourced communities and institutions—prisons, high schools, and community colleges—through free Lapham’s Quarterly distribution and related course curriculum offerings. For all of these populations, the Quarterly offers an unparalleled and accessible resource for learning about history, politics, philosophy, culture, literature, and the arts.