LIFE magazine returns to print after nearly 20 years: A look at its most iconic covers

This is was the motto of the iconic LIFE magazine, founded by Henry Luce in 1936.

It was not simply a magazine of celebrity interviews. It became known for photojournalism that captured wars, political upheavals, cultural change, space exploration and ordinary American life.

But several circumstances led to the discontinuation of the magazine. LIFE ended its weekly run in 1972 after the rise of television in households. As production and distribution costs escalated faster than profits, Time Inc. shut down the weekly publication.

It returned as a monthly publication in 1978 and stopped regular publication in 2000. Later special issues and newspaper-supplement editions followed, with the latter ending in 2007.

And now, after almost 20 years of disappearance, the magazine is making a come back. The LIFE magazine is preparing to return to regular print publication under Bedford Media, the company led by supermodel Karlie Kloss and her husband, investor Joshua Kushner.

The magazine’s first print issue is scheduled to be available on November 23, marking 90 years since the magazine’s first issue.

Who is bringing LIFE back?

Karlie Kloss, the supermodel and entrepreneur, is leading the revival through Bedford Media. Her media ventures have also included W Magazine and i-D. Joshua Kushner, Kloss’s husband and a venture capitalist and founder of Thrive Capital, is also involved in Bedford Media’s leadership.

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He is the brother of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law.

The move came after Bedford Media struck a deal with Dotdash Meredith to revive LIFE. Bedford took responsibility for the magazine’s editorial operations and business strategy, while Dotdash Meredith retained ownership of its extensive photography and content archives.

Kloss has said the aim is to preserve LIFE’s legacy of making the world feel closer. The new editorial team includes Hugo Lindgren, photo editor Eve Lyons and Caryn Ganz.

The first new edition of the magazine is titled Where Are We Now? and is described as a roughly 250-page, oversized quarterly publication. The cover price is $45. The new edition is being positioned as a premium print product rather than a conventional mass-market weekly magazine.

Now, as the magazine is making a comeback, how about we take a look at some of the iconic covers the magazine published in the past years? Let’s start.

Fort Peck Dam

LIFE’s first issue appeared on November 23, 1936, with a photograph of the Fort Peck Dam construction project in Montana.

The photograph was taken by Margaret Bourke-White, a pioneering photojournalist who became one of the defining photographers associated with LIFE.

The dam was part of a major public-works project during the Great Depression, when infrastructure construction was tied to employment, economic recovery and the transformation of the American landscape.

Choosing an enormous engineering project rather than a movie star established an important early signal: LIFE could make industry, labour and ordinary working life visually compelling.

The Beatles

LIFE’s August 28, 1964 cover featuring the Beatles captured a defining moment in the British group’s conquest of the American music market.

The Beatles had made their landmark US television appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964, attracting a huge audience and helping accelerate Beatlemania. Their arrival represented more than a musical trend. It reflected a shift in youth culture, fashion, fandom and the growing influence of British pop music in the United States.

LIFE’s photography documented the group as a cultural phenomenon, showing how a magazine could capture not just political leaders and wars but changes in how a generation dressed, listened and lived.

The moon and back

LIFE’s August 11, 1969 cover, titled To the Moon and Back, appeared weeks after Apollo 11 achieved the first crewed Moon landing. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the lunar surface on 20 July 1969, while Michael Collins remained in orbit aboard the command module.

The mission was a defining achievement of the US space programme and a major episode in the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.

LIFE had devoted considerable attention to the astronauts and their families, giving readers a personal view of a mission that was also a technological and geopolitical contest.

Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell

LIFE magazine’s May 25, 1953 cover featured Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell, two of Hollywood’s biggest stars at the time.

The actresses starred together in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, a musical comedy released in 1953. Monroe played Lorelei Lee, a glamorous showgirl, while Russell portrayed Dorothy Shaw, her confident and sharp-witted friend.

The film was based on Anita Loos’s 1925 novel and became particularly famous for Monroe’s performance of Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.

Britain’s Warlord

LIFE magazine’s April 29, 1940 cover featured Winston Churchill under the headline “Britain’s Warlord”, portraying him at a pivotal moment in the Second World War.

Churchill had become Britain’s prime minister on 10 May 1940, just days after the issue’s publication, as Nazi Germany’s military campaign in Europe intensified.

Britain was facing a grave military threat, with German forces advancing across Europe and the future of the continent increasingly uncertain.

The word “warlord” reflected the cover’s emphasis on Churchill as a leader preparing to direct Britain’s war effort. It was a striking label at a time when the country was approaching one of the most consequential periods in its modern history.

Churchill went on to become a central figure in the Allied war effort, delivering speeches that helped rally the British public during the conflict.

With input from agencies