(subtitled “A Journal of Better Living”) (1948– ; monthly; R&H ; 1994 circulation c. 40,000; file in editorial office). A temperance journal published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, Hagerstown, Maryland. It is the largest of all temperance publications, both in size and in circulation, and is now widely quoted, not only in the United States but in some 50 other countries of the world.
Originally a quarterly (through 1957), Listen continued as a bimonthly through 1965, changing to a monthly with the January 1966 issue.
Listen was inaugurated (1) to help launch and foster a worldwide educational program in behalf of total abstinence; (2) to publicize facts and data from current scientific and medical research on the effects of the use of alcoholic beverages and other narcotics on the physical, mental, and moral powers of the individual, and on the social, economic, political, and religious life of the nation; (3) to counter misleading and fallacious propaganda for alcoholic beverages in the press, on the billboards, and over radio and television, by the publication of facts proved by laboratory experiments and authentic surveys and studies; (4) to cooperate with other organizations and movements working for the elimination of intemperance from personal, family, and national life; (5) to encourage alcohol education in the schools and to advocate all other reasonable means of saving young people from the danger of alcohol and other narcotics, and to influence them toward sane, wholesome, and temperate living; (6) to offer aid and inspiration to those suffering from alcoholism or who are tempted to drink, pointing them to the true Source of help in divine power; (7) to aid in the dissemination of basic health principles, since true temperance is intimately connected with the development of a “sound mind in a sound body,” thus to promote good mental health habits, a well-rounded personality, and emotional stability, along with methods of strengthening self-control, overcoming wrong habits, and developing a positive, healthy approach to life.
Editorial material in Listen focuses primarily on positive alternatives to an intemperate way of life, especially for young readers of high school age.
Color cover designs for Listen feature prominent personalities in various walks of life who have strong convictions about temperance. Among those featured have been cabinet members, governors, members of Congress, business and professional leaders, outstanding youth personalities, and well-known leaders in the world of sports and entertainment.
Listen is youth-slanted and circulated chiefly in high schools and among youth organizations. It is used by Community Crusades Against Drugs in a national program of introducing temperance materials into public school systems. It is unique in its field in being officially approved for use in the public school curriculum by about three fourths of the states through their commissioners of education. A teaching guide for classroom use is provided with each issue.
Listen magazine is the youth drug education publication of the International Commission for the Prevention of Alcoholism and Drug Dependency (ICPA), a nongovernmental organization of both the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Through the ICPA Listen articles and information are circulated throughout the world.
Listen produced and sponsored the film I Took the High Road , a story of contemporary youth who found the solution to their drug problems in a spiritual conversion and belief in the second coming of Christ.
Another extension of Listen’s services was added in 1972 in the form of the Listen Fingertip Data Service. This consists of approximately 80 reference cards a month containing carefully selected facts on alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. These are available on a regular subscription basis.
A series of books containing reprint materials from Listen forms Listen’s Better Living Library. Among them are Invasion Upstairs
(alcohol); If You Smoke, What Have You?
(tobacco); and To Go to Pot, or Not? (marijuana). These books are intended primarily for reference purposes, have wide circulation in school libraries, and are used extensively for classroom study. Frequently reprints of Listen articles are used in local option elections and for general circulation.
Listen has been awarded the National Safety Council’s Public Interest Award for exceptional service to safety.
Editors: J. A. Buckwalter, 1948–1953; Francis A. Soper, 1953–1984; Gary B. Swanson, 1984–1990; Lincoln E. Steed, 1990– .