Dear New Englander,

      "Forget it, Bob," my friends said to me a few years ago. "The whole idea is crazy."

      They were talking about the idea I hatched with editor Dan Okrent to publish a new magazine for New Englanders...

      ...a magazine that today has over 75,000 readers.

      "No one will go for it," said my friends. "We New Englanders don't need another magazine full of nostalgia and gardening tips. If we need anything, we need a regional magazine written with elegance and precision, a magazine especially for New Englanders that's as good as The New Yorker or Esquire."

      "I couldn't agree more," I said, surprising them. "That's why I'm planning a magazine that will never tell you how to grow pumpkins as big as aircraft carriers."

      WHY NEW ENGLAND MONTHLY?

      In New England today we are faced with concerns that are far too complex and opportunities far too plentiful for more - traditional New England magazines to deal with.

      Behind our region's quilts-and-maple-syrup image lies a New England that has changed dramatically in the last 10 years -- just aching to be discovered. It's a reality you ought to know about.