[2] In June 1906, muckraking journalists Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens and Ida M. Tarbell left McClure's to help create The American Magazine.

Under John Sanborn Phillips, who served as editor until 1915, the monthly magazine departed somewhat from the muckraking style and focused on human interest stories, social issues and fiction.

[5] With the changes in 1915, John M. Siddall (1915–23) was appointed as editor of the periodical, which expanded its market considerably by concentrating on a female readership.

Fictional serials and short stories were a popular feature, and the magazine published several winners of the O. Henry Awards.

[6] In 1934, The American Magazine ran a story called "Uncle Sam Grows Younger" that praised Alger Hiss: "In his twenties, he is one of the men chiefly responsible for the plan to buy $650,000,000 worth of commodities to feed the unemployed.