Fifth Estate
Fifth Estate is the longest running anti-authoritarian publication in America. It was launched in 1965 as an independent quarterly newspaper by Harvey Ovshinsky, a 17 year old in Detroit, MI that was inspired by a Summer working for the Los Angeles Free Times (the first underground paper in the US). The paper carried stories from the Underground Press Syndicate and tapped local writers, such as John Sinclair (manager of the MC5). Ovshinksy recalled founding the indie paper, "I wanted it to be a bridge between the politicos and the freaks and druggies". The paper's focus was on revolution and civil unrest.
A series of publishers succeeded Ovshinksy after he became disillusioned in 1972. First volunteers, then a group called the Eat the Rich Gang, then Fredy Perlman. When Perlman died, Andy Smith and his wife, Victoria Jackson, began publishing Fifth Estate from their home in Liberty, TN. With Spring 2007's issue, the magazine appears to have moved back to Michigan.
