DeWitt Wallace, a young American who had
been wounded during the Battle of Verdun in France in 1917, founded the
Reader’s Digest magazine in the early 1920’s. During his stay in
hospital in France he had passed the time by reading American magazines
passed around by wounded soldiers. He had had some experience before
enlisting in the American Army working for a publisher of magazines. The
idea came to him to have a magazine with many condensed articles to
cover a wide variety of tastes and interests that could be circulated
around family and friends.
The first issues were only available by mail order and it wasn’t until
seven years later that the Reader’s Digest became available through
retail outlets.
Circulation grew rapidly and success was marked by record sales.
Expansion followed as the magazine was published in counties around the
world featuring articles to suit the local taste. It now is published in
over 60 counties in 20 languages.
The magazine's stated mission is to inform, entertain and inspire.
Articles in Reader's Digest cover a range of topics, including pop
culture and entertainment, politics and government, health,
international affairs, business, education and humour. The original
concept remained, articles tend to be short and condensed. Extracts of
new books are featured.
Apart from the Reader’s Digest magazine, the company has gone on to
become a major book publisher on a variety of subjects that are
available on directly from the publisher. Other products that are now
available directly from the Readers Digest are videos and CD’s.
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