This is the April 1942 issue of Reader’s Digest, with pretty
salmon-colored covers, silver and blue highlights (including flowers and
bunnies!) and black lettering. Its contents are similar in format to the
present-day magazine; however, there are no photos or illustrations.
The magazine contains 180 pages and measures approximately
5.5 x 7.75 inches. Many of the articles are World War II-related, since it was
only a few months since the Japanese sneak attacks. Among them are: “Are We
Awake – Even Yet?” (New York Times); “Prelude to Treachery” (Mark J. Gayn); “Tanks
in the Desert” (Life); “What Happened at Wake [Island]” (American Legion
Magazine); “The Negro in Army,” (Survey Graphic); and MacArthur of Bataan
(Cleveland Press). The “Fiction Feature” is “Pied Piper” by Nevile Shute (who
also wrote “On the Beach”).
Reader's Digest is a general-interest family magazine. Formerly
based in Chappaqua, New York, it is now headquartered in midtown Manhattan. The
magazine was founded in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wife Lila Bell Wallace.
For many years, Reader's Digest was the best-selling consumer magazine in the
United States; it lost the distinction in 2009 to Better Homes and Gardens.
According to Media Mark Research (2006), Reader's Digest reached more readers
with household incomes of over $100,000 than Fortune, The Wall Street Journal,
Business Week, and Inc. combined.
Global editions of Reader's Digest reach an additional 40
million people in more than 70 countries, via 49 editions in 21 languages. The
periodical has a global circulation of 10.5 million, making it the largest
paid-circulation magazine in the world.