Observing the things that matter

Welcome to The Alpine Review, a project that began over a decade ago with a vision to deeply understand and interpret the undercurrents shaping our world — to look at how our immediate moment is shaped by the past and will shape us in the future. The Alpine Review existed as a unique, high-design print magazine, ad-free and notable for its considerable size. We proudly described it as "a compendium of ideas for a world in transition."

Over the course of three impactful issues, we delved into a myriad of topics and perspectives, believing we had reached a natural completion point. Thus, in 2016, The Alpine Review entered a self-imposed hiatus, having, in our view, achieved its initial mission.

However, the evolving challenges of recent years have prompted us to transform The Alpine Review into an archival online resource, making it accessible to both long-standing followers and new readers. We invite you to delve into our rich archive and engage with the ideas that have shaped our journey.

I hope you find the content both enlightening and useful. Our journey may have evolved, but the essence and impact of our work endure.

Happy reading!

Louis-Jacques Darveau
Founder, editor and publisher

Acknowledgement

This project would not have been possible without the contribution of:

Patrick Tanguay, who was one of the original 'mind behind', editor (Issues 1 and 2) and later editor-at-large (Issue 3); Patrick Pittman who led the editorial effort for Issue 3; Peter Bihr, 'our man in Berlin', who opened his network to us when Alpine was just a concept; Elise Eskanazi who expertly art-directed all three print issues, and last but not least, Alex Gervais, who runs the engineering of this website.

Full credits can be found on the magazine page.

About the name

We are often asked to clarify the choice of name, so anticipating this — here's the background. The Alpine Review provides a useful metaphor in a few ways. First, it’s about perspective. Climbing the mountain for the inarticulable gratification of surveying the landscape and getting an overview. It seems overwhelming at the bottom, but when you’re standing at its peak, the path makes sense and the journey worthwhile. Second, it's about massive disruptions; like tectonic shifts, they are most apparent at the edges where the plates collide: changing landscapes and making mountains. Finally, with mountains come cliffs, caves and caverns, hidden valleys and unexpected crevices to explore and discover.

recognition

Praise for The Alpine Review

“This is an incredible magazine – fascinating in its scope and breadth of coverage.”
— Madeleine Morley (read the full review here), magCulture
"This magazine's so extraordinarily good, it makes Montreal look cooler than Berlin"
— Bruce Sterling
“The Alpine Review reaches a level where they can write about almost everything. And you will listen. The quality of the writing and the people that are involved are outstanding. Topped with a lot of surprises and little snippets, it is a masterpiece.”
— Jeremy Leslie, magCulture
“The Economist’s cooler, better dressed sister.”
—Ruth Jamieson, Print is Dead, Long Live Print: The World's Best Independent Magazines
"A magazine you want to keep for the weekend; you want to spend time with."
— Tyler Brûlé, Monocle (listen to the entire review here, from 32:50)

Awards

  • Applied Arts, Complete magazine design, 2014
  • Communication Arts, Design / Editorial / News category, 2013
  • Applied Arts, Magazine cover single, 2014
  • Concours Grafika, Complete magazine, 2013
  • Concours Grafika, Editorial & print category, 2017
The need to memorize something is a twentieth-century skill. The need to navigate in a buzz of confusion, and to figure out how to trust the information that you find—if you can feel confident doing that, the world is yours.
— John Perry Barlow