The magazine will increasingly reflect cultural issues as they pertain to our writing and reading life. Reviews will not simply assess the merit of the book in question, but also discuss the ideas that are the book's origins and history.

Books will be read by unpredictable reviewers and will aim at controversy. The reluctance of some of our more prominent people to flex their intellectual muscles on peers or newcomers makes for stolid reading, never mind the distasteful sensation of being in stagnant waters. ABR will, I hope, grow to suggest itself as the proper forum for genuine debate. Provocative reviews need not always screen petty rivalries, just as disinterested criticism always masks its real interests. The magazine is therefore now in the business of promoting interested criticism, passionate and partisan reviewing. The contentious review does generate in us all curiosity, albeit perverse, about the book under scrutiny. This can only be good for the business of books and the habit of reading.