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Journal Online
A Tribute to MANAS and a MEMORIAL TO HENRY GEIGER, its creator
"MANAS is a journal of independent inquiry, concerned
with the study of the principles that move world society
on its present course, and with the search for contrasting
principles, which may be capable of supporting intelligent
idealism under the conditions of the twentieth century."
—from the MANAS publication statement
When we moved to the Berkshires in 1980, Bob Swann's "subscription"
to MANAS, an eight-page weekly journal, followed us.
Subscription is in quotes because I don't ever remember
a subscription renewal request. Bob was just on
Henry Geiger's list. Geiger was the extraordinary
writer, editor, and publisher of MANAS for forty-one years
from 1948 through 1988, the year before his death at the
age of 80.
MANAS was the highlight of the week for me. I would
walk to the mailbox at the foot of the drive and start
reading on the way up. It was like having a private
clipping service which spanned the ages of great thinkers
and activists. The same issue would have bits of
Plato, Kropotkin, Simone Weil, combined with news of Wes
Jackson's work to recreate a perennial agriculture.
MANAS never failed to reorient me to the finest idealism,
an idealism that was, after all, at the heart of our work
at the E. F. Schumacher Society. Though I had never
met the author of those many articles in person, the cessation
of publication of MANAS still meant the loss of a trusted
friend. MANAS was a singularly steady and wise voice
in a rapidly accelerating and uncertain age.
To our delight a new MANAS appeared in the mailbox in
1999—not exactly a new MANAS but a MANAS-sized newsletter
announcing the availability of all past issues of the
weekly journal on CD-Rom. The CD was the project
of "MANAS Reprints," a devoted group of friends of MANAS
who knew Geiger personally. They also knew that Geiger
maintained an annotated index of all his articles in card
files. It was a valuable resource that should be
preserved. The Index too was digitalized.
Geiger was already publishing at the time of the McCarthy
hearings in the Senate in the early 1950s. Though
not a political journal, the ideas discussed in MANAS
may well have been called subversive, for all great ideas
have the potential of overthrowing the status quo.
In such a political climate, Geiger kept his mailing list
very private, on a single set of metal label plates.
But MANAS readers came to know each other. Martha Shaw,
who made the wonderful drawings for the Schumacher Society's
letterhead and posters, was a subscriber. Martha so loved
her weekly MANAS that she crafted a small backpack just
the right size to hold an issue as received in the mail.
On her daily morning bike ride to the neighborhood diner
for a coffee and roll she always carried the newest issue
to read and several photo-copies of her favorite MANAS
essays for giving away. She understood well the spirit
of MANAS, which was to encourage the free exchange of
ideas.
MANAS was not a business affair for Henry Geiger but an
affair of the heart. The saving and sharing of MANAS
with new readers for a new century has also been an affair
of the heart. Thanks to the help of the MANAS Reprints
team, to David Long and Asa Hardcastle of Zenn New Media,
and to Dane Springmeyer of the E. F. Schumacher Society,
we are pleased to make available through the Internet
the complete library of MANAS articles—a "record
of 'intelligent idealism' in the past [that] can be relied
upon for guidance, [so that] the courage of good men [and
women] is not dampened by evil prospects, but rather increased."
Enjoy, as we have, and share freely with others.
Susan Witt
Executive Director
E. F. Schumacher Society
www.smallisbeautiful.org
Go to » MANAS
Journal Online
A Tribute to MANAS and a MEMORIAL TO HENRY GEIGER, its creator
"Publication of MANAS spans nearly
a quarter of a century. This has been a time of great
vicissitudes and ominous portents in the affairs of mankind.
There have also been some encouraging developments, with
the emergence of currents of thought suggestive of new
strength and vision for the future—a future still
darlky unclear and by no means certain. Yet if the record
of 'intelligent idealism' in the past can be relied upon
for guidance, the courage of good men is not dampened
by evil prospects, but rather increased. MANAS would continue
its chronicle of the constructive thought of the times,
endeavoring to separate messages of authentic meaning
from the 'noise,' and give to them what amplification
it can. In the terms of the scope of this undertaking,
there is nothing else to do."
—The editors
of MANAS, 1971
