Vol. 2, Number 1	Spring 1999 issue

Dear Reader,

A year and a half ago the YRB was the improbable literary project of a few friends. Today, it has developed into a magazine worthy of its name, with a large and dedicated editorial and business staff, an email list of hundreds, high circulation and visibility, and more submissions than we can possibly print.

So, it is with some wonder at how far we've come, many dreams for the magazine's future, and a little nostalgia, that I leave the YRB in the capable hands of Sarah Van der Laan, my successor as editor-in-chief. Sarah has been involved with the magazine from its inception, and she will bring a clearheadedness, dedication and vision that will ensure the magazine's future.

We have learned a lot over the past year and a half: what it takes to start a magazine, the secret life of PageMaker, and some of the intricacies of the world of books and publishing. But most of all, we've discovered that no fixed, preexisting rule determines what people read. Until we existed, no one spent time in the dining hall over lunch or in their room in the afternoon reading book reviews by other students. Yet now they do.

Our existence proves that not every forum for expression fills a preexisting void. Some can generate their own audience and create their own niche. At its best, the YRB offers more than just a flavor of writing students choose to consume-it offers access to whole literary and political worlds that are normally outside students' areas of interest and experience.

We have discovered over that past year and a half that no one is wedded to bestseller lists. Students and faculty have been interested in even the relatively obscure books we highlight. This fact compels us to choose carefully; over the next few years, I only hope we can continue to expose students and faculty to books and ideas they would not otherwise have encountered.

Perhaps the most exciting, development of the past whirlwind year and a half, perhaps the most exciting was a call I got early last fall. It came from some students at "that other school" who were creating their own magazine explicitly modeled on ours, The Harvard Book Review.

Their first issue appeared late last fall. We are happy to welcome them to this small circle of two that is the present world of undergraduate book reviews. We can take no credit for the skilled writing and editing over at that other school-but if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then generating one's own rivals must be the most genuine form of success.

We sincerely hope that undergraduates at other universities will follow up on this initiative. We would love to talk to any group of interested students-so that they could have the advantage of whatever we've learned from both our successes and our mistakes.

A book review at any school can have the same impact we have had on students, faculty, and the wider university community. It can change what people read, and it can affect what we think and talk about. Most of all, it can engage us with the books and issues being discussed outside the university. Indeed, it can have the vital effect of reconnecting our writers and readers with the larger cultural conversation.

Sincerely,
Joey Fishkin
Editor-In-Chief