Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.For a century, magazines were the authors of culture and taste, of intelligence and policy ¿ until they were overthrown by the voices of the public themselves online. Here is a tribute to all that magazines were, from their origins in London and on Ben Franklin¿s press; through their boom ¿ enabled by new technologies ¿ as creators of a new media aesthetic and a new mass culture; into their opulent days in advertising-supported conglomerates; and finally to their fall at the hands of the internet. This tale is told through the experience of a magazine founder, the creator of <i>Entertainment Weekly</i> at Time Inc., who was also TV critic at <i>TV Guide</i> and <i>People </i>and finally an executive at Cond¿ast trying to shepherd its magazines into the digital age.Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in <i>The Atlantic.</i>