thing, but human intellect and heartntake over as we grow to adulthood,nwhere instinct runs dry in the lowernanimals. The result is family—which,nif it is healthy, grows to gather innneighbor, city, state, nation, world, innhope if not always in joy. Thus we donwrite about issues long-removed fromnThe Man of Moden”Man at his best” is both the slogannand promise of Esquire magazine.n”Best,” in this context, turns out tonmean all that money can buy in thenway of automobiles, wristwatches,nadoring women, and clothes. FernandonLamas’ paradoxical aphorismn(taken seriously by a dull-witted comicnwho parlayed it into a career) sums itnup: it doesn’t matter how you feel, sonlong as you look good. For Esquire,nwhat’s important about Jack Kemp isnthat he has “grown more attractivenwith age.” In the same issue, readersncould retreat from the complexities ofnmodern life by looking into a shortnstory by Bob Shacochis, a writer whosentales are filled with “the melancholy ofnself-exile, the sea air, and the smell ofnrum,” or by turning the remarkablennumber of pages devoted to showingnand telling us why smart men innWashington and New York (includingnthe U.S. senators, top governmentnofficials, and national broadcastersnwho posed as models for the pictures)nare now wearing sweaters as “the newnweekend alternative.”nEsquire was born with a fascinationnwith men’s fashion in its genes: all ofnits ancestors—including The Man ofnToday, Gentlemen’s Quarterly (oldnversion). Apparel Arts, Club & Campus,nand The Observer—were essentiallynhaberdashery journals. Esquire’snfounding editor, Arnold Gingrichn(who began his career as an advertisingnmanager), looks back at the periodi­nour immediate concern.nBut first things first. A rampantnschool board or laggardly snow removalntouches us where it hurts the mostn—right in the quotidian—and aborhon,ncited seven out of 11 times,ntouches us in the intimacies of ournbodies and moral beliefs. If we aren’tnTYPEFACESncal’s genealogy in Nothing But People:nThe Early Days at ‘Esquire (Crown,n1971). Gingrich credits Gentlemen’snQuarterly with breaking through journalists’nindifference to male fashion;n”Almost the only editorial treatmentnever accorded to fashions for men innthe pages of American magazines andnnewspapers had been derisory” (onenmore reason to long for the good oldndays).nWith remarkable candor, Gingrichnadmits that planning for Esquire focusednchiefly on ways “to add morenand more sugarcoating to the bitter pillnthat . . , the fashion content represented.”nThe magazine had to benmade “hair-chested” and “substantialnenough to deodorize the lavendernwhiff coming from the fashion pages.”nThe editors planned from the beginningnto seek out gifted writers andntalented athletes not so much becausenthey were interested in fiction or football,nbut because they knew of nonother way to make a men’s fashionnshow in print acceptable to “the creamnof the great middle class between thennobility and the peasantry.” ErnestnHemingway and Gene Tunney werenjust part of the “sugarcoating.”nIn only a few years after its first issuen(1933), Esquire was in the limelight.nThe editors explained their strategynand its success with a jaunty nonchalancenin a promotional book. ThenThird New Year: An Etude in the Keynof Frankness, sent to advertisers inn1935:nnnworried about what lies nearest us,nhow can we hope to bring peace andnjustice to the world?n]ane Greer edits Plains Poetry Journal,nwhich prints no letters to theneditor.nEsquire treats as legitimatensubject matter all the normalnactivities of civilized adultnlife. Its only aim … isnamusement. . . . It’s flippant,ncynical, frequently superficial,nand sometimes somewhat brashnin its sophistication. Perhapsnthat’s why some of you haventold us that you “don’t want itnin your home.” . . . The bestndays of a magazine last only asnlong as the period for which itnJUNE 1986/43n