Long before Time and Newsweek recapped the events of the world for millions of Americans, long before Reader's Digest and Life condensed the world's news in words and pictures, the Saturday Evening Post was truly America's magazine. Born at the turn of the century, with roots in colonial America, the Saturday Evening Post quickly became required reading for anyone who wished to stay in touch with the issues that mattered in American culture, politics, or the economy. The Post, as it is widely known, dominated the American magazine landscape for the first thirty years of the century, both in circulation and in influence. In its heyday, the Post was the voice of American common-sense conservatism. When that brand of conservatism declined, so did the magazine, but for a time the Post reached its editor's goal of being America's "indispensable magazine."

The modern...