Resumo de The Man Behind Reader's Digest

One day a smart man had an idea for a magazine that would publish selected articles but in condensed versions. He reasoned that people on the run, or very busy, don't always have time to read long articles, so why not give it to them in shorter versions?

The time for such an idea was perfect, but without DeWitt Wallace making it happen, it may never have seen the light of day. When he started, fiction was the rage in the publishing world. Most editors and publishers were convinced that the public had no interest in true material. Wallace and his wife were warned at the start that "a magazine that printed serious articles could never achieve a circulation of over 250,000." Even so, the Wallaces believed in their magazine and ignored the advice. The result was publishing history and the birth of the READER'S DIGEST.

Without DeWitt Wallace, there would have been no READER'S DIGEST, unless some other bright young person could have come up with the same fresh idea. Wallace was the
magazine. He had a tremendous and very original idea for a new magazine that would reprint the finest articles from other leading magazines in shortened form. Wallace realized this need when he found he had to continually read through many different magazines to keep up with world thoughts and ideas.

After Wallace graduated from the University of California, he went to work as a young advertising salesman. He was eager to launch his great idea, but was forced to delay his plans due to the first World War.

After the war, when the panic of 1921 hit full force, Wallace lost his job. He decided this was the time to launch his idea, so he moved to New York, married, and started READER'S
DIGEST. His funds totalled $1300, and that was a loan.

The rest became magazine history. Wallace got his first issue out, operating from a storeroom in Greenwich Village. The room was right under a New York speakeasy. The date of this historic first issue was February, 1922, and the following slogan appeared in it: "Thirty-one articles each month from leading magazines, each article of enduring value and interest, in condensed and compact form." No less than five thousand copies of the first issue were printed.

The magazine shyrocketed in sales and success. Wallace and his wife became two of the wealthiest people in the world, yet they gave away most of their millions. In his eighties, Wallace kept strong editorial interest and was alert to new trends and ideas. As he put it,
"An editor doesn't need outside interests because he deals with every subject under the sun."

"People have faith in the READER'S DIGEST" became a popular slogan for perhaps the most unique magazine of the last hundred years when it began. The magazine in its many
issues has gone all over the world, probably the universe, and touched the lives of countless millions everywhere. Well done, DeWitt Wallace.

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