Over the past sixteen years, The Point has become a rare institution in American intellectual life: an independent magazine that brings together scholars, journalists, activists, critics, artists and readers in a shared effort to think seriously about the problems of the present. At the same time the need that gave rise to The Point—the need for spaces where thoughtful reflection, open-ended dialogue, and moral imagination can flourish—has only grown more urgent. We live, increasingly, in what might be called a new dark age. The institutions and civic formations that have long sustained our cultural and political life—the media, the university, the public sphere itself—are on the defensive, while the kind of reading and conversation that inspired our founding are harder than ever to locate. The Point has quietly endeavored to face these challenges head on by sustaining the adventure of genuine dialogue in print, in person and online; counterbalancing the pathological obsession with the present through engagement with intellectual history; and renewing the humanistic tradition for the purpose of imagining a more thoughtful, pluralistic, and humane democracy in the present and future.
The magazine would not have survived this long without the generosity and loyalty of our readers. But to sustain and build on our vision, we will need more resources. That’s why we’re asking for your support as we try to reach ourend-of-year fundraising goal. If you learned something from The Point this year, or read something that inspired you, or surprised you, or changed your mind, or made you ask a new question of yourself, please take two minutes to subscribe, donateorrecommend us to your library. To keep this community of readers, writers, and thinkers going, we’ll need your help.
