Conor Friedersdorf

Conor Friedersdorf is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he focuses on politics and national affairs. He lives in Venice, California, and is the founding editor of The Best of Journalism, a newsletter devoted to exceptional nonfiction.

After bin Laden Kill, Obama's Critics Go Over the Top

After bin Laden Kill, Obama's Critics Go Over the Top

Conservatives still look for reasons to call the president weak. It's going to backfire. More »

What America Looks Like: Austin, Texas

What America Looks Like: Austin, Texas

The United States as seen by its residents More »

The Most Absurd Newspaper Story of the Year

The Most Absurd Newspaper Story of the Year

The Washington Post asserts that the War in Iraq helped us get bin Laden by getting us used to continual conflict More »

Torture Opponents Were Right

Torture Opponents Were Right

They've long insisted that a "ticking time bomb" exception would set us on a slippery slope. The reaction to bin Laden's death proves their point. More »

The Civil Liberties Primary: A Merry Band of Litigators

The Civil Liberties Primary: A Merry Band of Litigators

The Institute for Justice combines the right's focus on economic liberty with the left's willingness to effect change through the courts More »

Nearly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism

Nearly 100 Fantastic Pieces of Journalism

These must-reads are my personal picks for the best nonfiction of 2010 More »

Off the Bookshelf: A Recent Divorce

Off the Bookshelf: A Recent Divorce

Short excerpts from long reads. Today: a middle-aged man whose marriage has just ended. More »

Rush Limbaugh's Strategically Ambiguous Monologues

Rush Limbaugh's Strategically Ambiguous Monologues

Was the talk radio host being earnest or sarcastic when he praised the president for killing bin Laden? Neither answer is correct. More »

Off the Bookshelf: Orwell in Action

Off the Bookshelf: Orwell in Action

Short excerpts from long reads. Today: being shot. More »

What America Looks Like: Boston, Massachusetts

What America Looks Like: Boston, Massachusetts

The United States as seen by its residents More »

How bin Laden's Death Unites Us

How bin Laden's Death Unites Us

The fall of our shared enemy should remind us, no matter our politics, of what we have in common More »

Off the Bookshelf: Poppies In The Valley

Off the Bookshelf: Poppies In The Valley

Short excerpts from long reads. Today: Salinas, California. More »

How to Fix Our Flawed Election Coverage

How to Fix Our Flawed Election Coverage

In presidential races, the press should broaden our view rather than focusing on the established, the rich, and the famous More »

What America Looks Like: Portland, Oregon

What America Looks Like: Portland, Oregon

The United States as seen by its residents More »

Off the Bookshelf: The Glass Box

Off the Bookshelf: The Glass Box

Short excerpts from long reads. Today: modern architecture. More »

Tarring Guantanamo Defense Lawyers as Traitors

Tarring Guantanamo Defense Lawyers as Traitors

A writer at National Review resurrects one of the ugliest smears in the War on Terrorism More »

Barack Obama: Affirmative Action's Best Poster Child?

Barack Obama: Affirmative Action's Best Poster Child?

Some have accused the president of getting into Harvard solely because of race. That's the least persuasive criticism of him we've ever heard More »

Los Angeles Is 88 Cities, Many of Them Corrupt

Los Angeles Is 88 Cities, Many of Them Corrupt

A primer on America's biggest urban landscape and a source of its civic dysfunction More »

The Civil Liberties Primary: What Issues Matter Most?

The Civil Liberties Primary: What Issues Matter Most?

Voters should prioritize executive power and privacy in 2012, a high-ranking staffer at the ACLU says More »

TSA Reduces Former Miss USA to Tears

TSA Reduces Former Miss USA to Tears

A full body pat down left the beauty queen feeling "violated" and "molested" -- revealing how security theater victimizes More »

The Biggest Story in Photos

Photos of Tornado Damage in Moore, Oklahoma

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