In 1962, Adler became a staff writer-reporter for "The New Yorker". In 1968, despite not being involved in the film trade, she surprisingly succeeded Bosley Crowther as film critic for "The New York Times" and her esoteric, literary reviews were not well received by the film studio distributors. She was not happy with the "Times" deadlines and in February 1969, she was replaced by Vincent Canby. Her film reviews were collected in her book, "A Year in the Dark". During her time at the "Times" she retained her office at "The New Yorker" and she rejoined the staff there after leaving the "Times", and she remained for four decades. Her reporting and essays for "The New Yorker" on politics, war, and civil rights were reprinted in "Toward a Radical Middle". Her introduction to that volume provided an early definition of radical centrism as a political philosophy. Her "Letter from the Palmer House" was included in the collection "The Best Magazine Articles of the Seventies".