The Atlantic is an
American magazine founded as
The Atlantic Monthly in
Boston in 1857. It was created as a
literary and
cultural commentary magazine. Though based in Boston, it quickly achieved a national reputation, which it held for more than a century. It was important for recognizing and publishing new writers and poets, and encouraging major careers. It published leading writers' commentary on abolition, education, and other major issues in contemporary political affairs.
Its current format is of a general editorial magazine. Focusing on "
foreign affairs,
politics, and the
economy [as well as] cultural trends," it is primarily aimed at a target audience of "
thought leaders."
The magazine's founders were a group of prominent writers of national reputation, who included
Harriet Beecher Stowe,
Ralph Waldo Emerson,
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,
John Greenleaf Whittier and
James Russell Lowell. Lowell was its first editor. The editor-in-chief as of 2006 is
James Bennet. The CEO and group publisher is John Fox Sullivan.
Format and frequency
Originally a monthly publication, the magazine, subscribed to by 400,000 readers, now publishes ten times a year. It features articles in the fields of
political science and
foreign affairs, as well as a
book review section overseen by literary and national editor Benjamin Schwarz. In April 2005, the editors of
The Atlantic decided to cease publishing fiction in regular issues in favor of a newsstand-only annual fiction issue edited by longtime staffer C. Michael Curtis.
On January 22, 2008,
TheAtlantic.com dropped its subscriber wall and allowed users to freely browse its site, including all past archives. In March 2009,
TheAtlantic.com added a food channel edited by
Corby Kummer and with contributions from
Grant Achatz, Tim and Nina
Zagat and
Ezekiel "Zeke" Emanuel, among others.
Literary history
First publication of "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
As a leading literary magazine,
The Atlantic was the first to publish many significant works and authors. It was the first to publish
Julia Ward Howe's "
Battle Hymn of the Republic" (on
February 1,
1862), and William Parker's "
The Freedman's Story" (in February and March 1866). It published
Charles W. Eliot's "The New Education" (a call for practical reform) that resulted in his appointment to Presidency of
Harvard University in 1869. It published work by
Charles Chesnutt before he collected them in
The Conjure Woman. The magazine was a point of connection between
Emily Dickinson and
Thomas Wentworth Higginson; having read an article in the
Atlantic by Higginson, Dickinson asked him to become her mentor. It was a major venue of publishing for poetry and short stories, contributing to the start of many national literary careers.
The magazine published many of the works of
Mark Twain, including one that was lost until 2001. Editors recognized major cultural changes and movements. The magazine published
Martin Luther King, Jr.'s defense of
civil disobedience in "
Letter from Birmingham Jail" in August 1963. Among its best-known current writers on society, politics and culture are
James Fallows,
Mark Bowden,
Caitlin Flanagan,
Jeffrey Goldberg,
Joshua Green,
Christopher Hitchens,
Megan McArdle,
Jeffrey Tayler,
Robert D. Kaplan, and
Andrew Sullivan.
The magazine has also published speculative articles that inspired the development of new technologies. The classic example is the publication of
Vannevar Bush's essay "
As We May Think" in July 1945. It inspired
Douglas Engelbart and later
Ted Nelson to develop the modern
workstation and
hypertext technology.
In addition to its fiction and poetry, the magazine continued publishing high-quality writing on society and politics in the 21st century. In 2005 the magazine won a National Magazine Award for fiction. "A three-part series by
William Langewiesche in 2002 on the rebuilding of the
World Trade Center generated headlines, as have articles by
James Fallows on planning for the
Iraq war and reconstruction."
Ownership
For all but recent decades,
The Atlantic was known as a distinctively
New England literary magazine (as opposed to
Harper's and later
The New Yorker, both from
New York). It achieved a national reputation and was important to the careers of many American writers and poets. By its third year was published by the famous Boston publishing house of
Ticknor and Fields (later to become part of
Houghton Mifflin). The magazine was purchased by its then editor,
Ellery Sedgwick, during
World War I, but 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, ownership of the magazine was transferred from Zuckerman to
David G. Bradley, owner of the
beltway news-focused
National Journal Group. Bradley had promised that no major changes were in store.
In April 2005, however, the publishers announced that the editorial offices would be moved from its long-time home at 77 North Washington St. in Boston to join the company's advertising and circulation divisions in
Washington, D.C.. Later in August, Bradley told the
New York Observer, cost cutting from the move would amount to a minor $200,000–$300,000 and those savings would be swallowed by severance-related spending. The reason, then, was to create a hub in Washington where the top minds from all of Bradley's publications could collaborate. Few of the Boston staff agreed to relocate. Bradley embarked on an open search for a new editorial staff.
Bradley, who has described himself as "a neocon guy" who came to regret his support for the Iraq invasion,
hired
James Bennet as editor, who had been the Jerusalem bureau chief for
The New York Times. He also hired writers including
Jeffrey Goldberg and
Andrew Sullivan.
The Art Department comprises Jason Treat, Art Director; Melissa Bluey, Assistant Art Director; and Katie Mathy, Art and Photography Coordinator.
The Atlantic Wire
The Atlantic Wire is a website associated with
The Atlantic that aggregates opinion from across the media spectrum and summarizes significant positions in each debate. It also includes the Atlantic 50. It publishes The Atlantic 50, a ranked list of the top opinion makers in the media created using an algorithm based on influence, reach and web engagement.
List of editors
- Cullen Murphy, interim editor, never named editor-in-chief, 2003–2006
