Good magazine has a list of the 51 best magazines ever in its latest issue, and a number of them are business-related glossies or with business overtones.
Here are the particulars:
8. Wired
Early years until Condé Nast buyout (1993–1998)
Pages oozing with retina-burning inks and startling layouts broadcast a vision of the future that was both utopian and tangible. Wired was able to bridge the cultural divide between geeks and the rest of us because they saw that in our democratic digital tomorrow, we were all geeks. They let us in on the secret that technology wasn’t news, but how it affected our lives was. But Condé Nast giveth (see 2; 31; 45) and Condé Nast taketh away: Its 1998 purchase gradually sapped the infectious energy that so characterized Wired’s early years. Still, it’s rare to find something as perfect to its cultural moment; both a mirror and a lens, a tribute and a battle hymn. What’s next, indeed.
13. Collier’s Weekly
Reporters for Collier’s, founded in 1888, were some of the first to get down in the muck and start raking. Its influence was vast—Congress passed important laws based on evidence printed in the magazine, including a 12-parter on unregulated medicines and a pre-The Jungle essay on slaughterhouses by Upton Sinclair.
Also try McClure’s
33. Fortune
Until the death of founding editor Henry Luce (1930–1967)
It was a different era when a great financial publication might also be one of the most beautiful. Launched just months after Black Tuesday, the oversize Fortune came with an exorbitant $1 cover price (most other magazines sold for pennies), justifying its cost with stunning graphic covers followed by hundreds of luscious pages brimming with business information and beautiful photography.
Also try: Fast Company, Inc.
See the entire list here.
