Benjamin Schwarz

Benjamin Schwarz is the former literary and national editor for The Atlantic. He is writing a book about Winston Churchill for Random House. More

His first piece for the magazine, "The Diversity Myth," was a cover story in 1995. Since then he's written articles and reviews on a startling array of subjects from fashion to the American South, from current fiction to the Victorian family, and from international economics to Chinese restaurants. Schwarz oversees and writes a monthly column for "Books and Critics," the magazine's cultural department, which under his editorship has expanded its coverage to include popular culture and manners and mores, as well as books and ideas. He also regularly writes the "leader" for the magazine. Before joining the Atlantic's staff, Schwarz was the executive editor of World Policy Journal, where his chief mission was to bolster the coverage of cultural issues, international economics, and military affairs. For several years he was a foreign policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, where he researched and wrote on American global strategy, counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and military doctrine. Schwarz was also staff member of the Brookings Institution. Born in 1963, he holds a B.A. and an M.A. in history from Yale, and was a Fulbright scholar at Oxford. He has written for a variety of newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, and The Nation. He has lectured at a range of institutions, from the U.S. Air Force Special Operations School to the Center for Social Theory and Comparative History. He won the 1999 National Book Critics Circle award for excellence in book criticism.

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Oscar Niemeyer: A Vision in Concrete

Oscar Niemeyer: A Vision in Concrete

The work of the great Brazilian architect, who died Wednesday, continues to enchant and appall students of architecture and urban planning. More »

Books of the Year 2012: The Top 5 and the Runners Up

Books of the Year 2012: The Top 5 and the Runners Up

Benjamin Schwarz picks the 15 best books reviewed in The Atlantic or published in 2012. More »

A Tragic Sense of Life: Remembering Two Great Historians

A Tragic Sense of Life: Remembering Two Great Historians

Eugene Genovese and Eric Hobsbawm, who died within days of each other, were fearless scholars with old-fashioned manners and a healthy contempt for unchecked individualism. More »

Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011

Like his hero, Orwell, Christopher prized bravery above all other qualities--and in particular the bravery required for unflinching honesty More »

A Very British Glamour

A Very British Glamour

Louise Baring's new book focuses on fashion photographer Norman Parkinson, who captured the charm, wit, and intelligence of feminine beauty More »

The Biggest Story in Photos

Picking up the Pieces After the Tornado in Moore, Oklahoma

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