The Atlantic
The Atlantic is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.[3]
For the ocean, see Atlantic Ocean. For other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation).Editor-in-chief
- Literature
- political science
- foreign affairs
- lifestyle
Ten issues a year
925,872[1]
1857
November 1, 1857 (as The Atlantic Monthly)
United States
Washington, D.C., U.S.[2]
English
It was founded in 1857 in Boston as The Atlantic Monthly, a literary and cultural magazine that published leading writers' commentary on education, the abolition of slavery, and other major political issues of that time. Its founders included Francis H. Underwood[4][5] and prominent writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier.[6][7] James Russell Lowell was its first editor.[8] In addition, The Atlantic Monthly Almanac was an annual almanac published for Atlantic Monthly readers during the 19th and 20th centuries.[9] A change of name was not officially announced when the format first changed from a strict monthly (appearing 12 times a year) to a slightly lower frequency. It was a monthly magazine for 144 years until 2001, when it published 11 issues; it has published 10 issues yearly since 2003. It dropped "Monthly" from the cover beginning with the January/February 2004 issue, and officially changed the name in 2007.
After experiencing financial hardship and undergoing several ownership changes in the late 20th century, the magazine was purchased by businessman David G. Bradley, who refashioned it as a general editorial magazine primarily aimed at serious national readers and "thought leaders".[10] In 2016, the periodical was named Magazine of the Year from the American Society of Magazine Editors.[11] In July 2017, Bradley sold a majority interest in the publication to Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective.[12][13][14]
In 2021 and 2022, its writers won Pulitzer Prizes for feature writing and, in 2022, 2023, and 2024 The Atlantic won the award for general excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
The website's executive editor is Adrienne LaFrance, the editor-in-chief is Jeffrey Goldberg, and the CEO is Nicholas Thompson. The magazine publishes 10 times a year.[15] In 2024, it was reported that the magazine had crossed one million subscribers and become profitable after, three years prior, losing twenty million dollars a year and laying off 17% of its staff.
Political viewpoint[edit]
In 1860, three years into publication, The Atlantic's then-editor James Russell Lowell endorsed Republican Abraham Lincoln for his first run for president and also endorsed the abolition of slavery.[30]
In 1964, Edward Weeks wrote on behalf of the editorial board in endorsing Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson and rebuking Republican Barry Goldwater's candidacy.[31]
In 2016, during the 2016 presidential campaign, the editorial board endorsed a candidate for the third time in the magazine's history, urging readers to support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in a rebuke of Republican Donald Trump's candidacy.[32]
After Trump prevailed in the November 2016 election, the magazine became a strong critic of him. In March 2019, a cover article by editor Yoni Appelbaum called for the impeachment of Donald Trump: "It's time for Congress to judge the president's fitness to serve."[33][34][35]
In September 2020, it published a story, citing several anonymous sources, reporting that Trump referred to dead American soldiers as "losers".[36] Trump called it a "fake story", and suggested the magazine would soon be out of business.[37][38]
In 2020, The Atlantic endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, and urged its readers to oppose Trump's re-election bid.[39]
Ownership and editors[edit]
By its third year, it was published by Boston publishing house Ticknor and Fields, which later became part of Houghton Mifflin, based in the city known for literary culture. The magazine was purchased in 1908 by editor at the time, Ellery Sedgwick, and remained in Boston.
In 1980, the magazine was acquired by Mortimer Zuckerman, property magnate and founder of Boston Properties, who became its chairman. On September 27, 1999, Zuckerman transferred ownership of the magazine to David G. Bradley, owner of the National Journal Group, which focused on Washington, D.C. and federal government news. Bradley had promised that the magazine would stay in Boston for the foreseeable future, as it did for the next five-and-a-half years.
In April 2005, however, the publishers announced that the editorial offices would be moved from their longtime home at 77 North Washington Street in Boston to join the company's advertising and circulation divisions in Washington, D.C.[86] Later in August, Bradley told The New York Observer that the move was not made to save money—near-term savings would be $200,000–$300,000, a relatively small amount that would be swallowed by severance-related spending—but instead would serve to create a hub in Washington, D.C., where the top minds from all of Bradley's publications could collaborate under the Atlantic Media Company umbrella. Few of the Boston staff agreed to move, and Bradley then commenced an open search for a new editorial staff.[87]
In 2006, Bradley hired James Bennet, the Jerusalem bureau chief for The New York Times, as editor-in-chief. Bradley also hired Jeffrey Goldberg and Andrew Sullivan as writers for the magazine.[88]
In 2008, Jay Lauf joined the organization as publisher and vice-president; as of 2017, he was publisher and president of Quartz.[89]
In early 2014, Bennet and Bob Cohn became co-presidents of The Atlantic, and Cohn became the publication's sole president in March 2016 when Bennet was tapped to lead The New York Times's editorial page.[90][91] Jeffrey Goldberg was named editor-in-chief in October 2016.[92]
On July 28, 2017, The Atlantic announced that billionaire investor and philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs (the widow of former Apple Inc. chairman and CEO Steve Jobs) had acquired majority ownership through her Emerson Collective organization, with a staff member of Emerson Collective, Peter Lattman, being immediately named as vice chairman of The Atlantic. David G. Bradley and Atlantic Media retained a minority share position in this sale.[93]
In May 2019, technology journalist Adrienne LaFrance became executive editor.[94]
In December 2020, former Wired editor-in-chief Nicholas Thompson was named CEO of The Atlantic.[95]
