The cover stories that put Mother Jones on the map
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For our 50th anniversary issue, we did something that we try every once in a while: We produced two covers, one for subscribers and one for the newsstand.
The idea behind a split cover is to give different types of readers different experiences. In this case, subscribers got a rich, celebratory collage from artist Max-o-matic, stitching together some of the most iconic and aberrant figures of our half-century in print. For the newsstand, our art team took inspiration from Nirvana’s legendary second album to tease Casey Michel’s investigation of Jared Kushner’s (self-)dealings. With the help of ace illustrator Justin Metz, we had an insta-classic: Nevermind the Corruption.
Both covers blend stunning visuals and sharp design with the bold (and occasionally irreverent) writing inside the magazine—something we’ve been shooting for ever since our first issue way back in 1976.
March 1976
For our premier issue, illustrator Dugald Stermer recasts The Spirit of ’76 with a movement vibe.
October 1977
Art director Louise Kollenbaum borrows her uncle Al’s Ford Pinto for the cover shot of the exposé that put Mother Jones on the map.
November 1977
“When Mother Jones asked me to write about women and success, I thought: How optimistic, so few of us are in danger of it.” —Rita Mae Brown
June 1978
Remember barcode moral panic?
December 1978
With the Center for Investigative Reporting, we dig into the quasi-religious self-help group EST.
January 1979
Tobacco companies pull years’ worth of ads as a result of this story.
July 1981
“The sailor pissing over the side is a more important source of pollution” than nuclear waste dumping, says a former Atomic Energy Commission official.
November 1982
A deep dive into STDs zeroes in on a mysterious illness “causing a trembling among doctors and gay men.”
January 1983
Christopher Hitchens memorably skewers Tom Wolfe’s chummy relationships with conservative elites.
June 1983
Co-founder Adam Hochschild and photographer Susan Meiselas expose the truth about a US-funded dirty war.
December 1983
Arlie Russell Hochschild, writing about men telling women to smile more, coins the phrase “emotional labor.”
October 1984
William Styron! Kurt Vonnegut! Al Franken! Carolyn Forché!
May 1985
Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau illustrates a still-familiar tension.
September 1986
Michael Moore’s first issue as MoJo’s editor, in what would be a fiery four-month stint. He famously took his settlement pay to help make Roger & Me.
October 1987
As Editor Douglas Foster later notes, the answer to this question is: “To win.”
June 1988
Or, as we call it, “the sex tornado issue.”
May 1989
A smoldering Bono in our “People, Politics, and Other Passions” era.
September 1989
Resting Spike face.
August 1990
The first of Ralph’s short-lived “Nader’s Nineties” columns.
June 1991
Bart Simpson’s second cover appearance, along with his sister Lisa—a MoJo reader if ever there was one.
February 1992
When the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons calls small breasts “deformities,” you have to put a boob on the cover.
February 1997
Artist Philip Burke captures the controlled chaos of political celebrity for several covers in the ’90s.
February 1998
Bill Gates, writes Editor Jeffrey Klein, was “instrumental in making a mindless world attractive.”
October 2000
We skewer the overhyped threat of a foreign terrorist attack—a year before 9/11. Whoops.
June 2005
The “scientists disagree” narrative has held up climate action for decades. We expose how ExxonMobil created it.
October 2006
An exhaustive timeline of how the George W. Bush administration—with the help of mainstream media—sold the Iraq War.
February 2007
Jack Hitt’s provocative essay could’ve run anytime in the previous—or following—decade.
April 2007
Here’s hoping we don’t end up making an Iran Handbook for Dummies cover.
February 2009
We didn’t know just how much of a balancing act the Obama years would be.
October 2010
Julia Whitty unmasks BP’s lies about its “cleanup” of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
December 2010
Nailed it.
August 2011
Co-Editors Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery unpack the “do more with less” trend.
April 2012
Gabriel Mac goes undercover in the e-commerce supply chain.
February 2013
Kevin Drum probes reams of research to deliver a compelling thesis: Lead exposure caused the spike in violent crime in the late ’70s and ’80s.
August 2014
Dan Schulman gives the dark-money Koch brothers the tabloid treatment.
June 2015
Our deep data dive finds that gun violence costs America $229 billion a year—more than $700 per person.
October 2015
Tim Murphy profiles Bernie Sanders, whose wild presidential run is still on the Mount Rushmore of populist insurgencies.
August 2016
Shane Bauer’s epic undercover investigation causes private prison company stock to tank.
October 2016
The first of our 18(!) Donald Trump covers. (Bill Clinton and George W. Bush tie for second, with five covers each.)
August 2017
The definitive guide to the hack-and-leak operation that threatened American democracy.
December 2018
Okay, so maybe we were a bit optimistic…
April 2019
As many publishers cut deals with Facebook, we expose how it is poisoning the information ecosystem.
October 2020
While police protests grip the country, Samantha Michaels spotlights alternative visions of community safety.
June 2023
Frequent contributor Bill McKibben pushes progressives to build, baby, build.
February 2024
A year before Big Tech overlords join Trump on the inauguration stage, our oligarchy issue calls it what it is.
May you like
April 2026
This callback to our first cover features Pete Hegseth bringing up the rear, bottle in hand.
For more on our 50th anniversary, check out Exploding Cars, Office Monkeys, Watergate: The Origins of Mother Jones; The Stunning Photojournalism That Made Mother Jones; and Women’s Work: My Barrier-Breaking Early Years at Mother Jones. And don’t miss the More to the Story episode “Exploding Pintos, Imploding Politics: Celebrating 50 Years of Fearless Journalism” and MoJo Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery and co-founder Adam Hochschild’s conversation on KQED’s Forum.
