As Johnson notes in "Downsizing the Revolution," Feed does not represent a paradigm shift or a radical break with tradition. Instead, he says, "we prefer to think of Feed in evolutionary terms: an older organism finds itself transplanted into a new environment, and adapts to that environment in various ways—but still retains much of its original shape." This is a particularly fine example of convergence at work.

The magazine boasts an illustrious group of contributors—Sven Birkerts, David Greenberg, Alex Ross and Robert Stein among them—and some innovative features. "Dialog," a 10-day e-mail exchange/debate (with reader participation) on the cultural consequences of electronic text, is especially noteworthy.

Feed is not flawless. Its acerbic political commentary, while frequently brilliant in depicting Emperor Gingrich's new clothes, makes no pretense of even-handedness, and we've subtracted a point from the rating for the sprawling and disjointed feature "Victorians Lost in Space." Nonetheless, Feed is an important and intelligent new magazine, and we recommend you give it a try.

(Reviewed July 10, 1995)