Jack Beatty
"The Atlantic Monthly is an American tradition; since 1857 it has helped to shape the American mind and conscience," senior editor Jack Beatty explains. "We are proud of that tradition. It is the tradition of excellence for which we were awarded the National Magazine Award for General Excellence. It is the tie that binds us to our past. It is a standard we won't betray."
Beatty joined The Atlantic Monthly as a senior editor in September of 1983, having previously worked as a book reviewer at Newsweek and as the literary editor of The New Republic.
Born, raised, and educated in Boston, Beatty wrote a best-selling biography of James Michael Curley, the Massachusetts congressman and governor and Boston mayor, which Addison-Wesley published in 1992 to enthusiastic reviews. The Washington Post said, "The Rascal King is an exemplary political biography. It is thorough, balanced, reflective, and gracefully written." The Chicago Sun-Times called it a ". . . beautifully written, richly detailed, vibrant biography." The book was nominated for a National Book Critics' Circle award.
His 1993 contribution to The Atlantic Monthly's Travel pages, "The Bounteous Berkshires," earned these words of praise from The Washington Post: "The best travel writers make you want to travel with them. I, for instance, would like to travel somewhere with Jack Beatty, having read his superb account of a cultural journey to the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts." Beatty is also the author of The World According to Peter Drucker, published in 1998 by The Free Press and called "a fine intellectual portrait" by Michael Lewis in the New York Times Book Review.
Recent articles by Jack Beatty
A Sisyphean History of Campaign Finance Reform
A look at how we ended up back where we began.
Cognitive Dissonance
Two new studies of cable news throw light on the sources of Bush's failure-proof support.
Television or Democracy?
Al Gore suggests that we cannot have both.
Casualty of War
Tony Blair has been "the most disastrous and dishonest" prime minister in Britain's modern history, a new book argues.
The Politics of War
The Iraq war, like most American wars, is a "poor man's fight."
Cheney Lives!
Cheney's star may have faded at the White House, but his doctrine of preventive war remains Bush policy. Does this mean Iran is next?
The Fuse
Are we on the brink of a hundred years’ "war of civilizations?".
Run, Barack, Run
Jack Beatty falls under the spell of a "political talent of a rare order"
War Disposes
Soon the last of the "doughboys" of 1917-1918 will be gone. What did America's entry into the Great War achieve?
War and the American Voter
In the five wartime congressional elections since 1860, the "war party" has always taken a shellacking.
The Insecure American
Most Americans today are on an unstable financial footing. Could this become the next hotbutton political issue?
The "S" Word Spells Trouble for the GOP
If history is any guide, the Republicans will lose the House this year and the presidency in 2008.
Mexico Strikes Back
Unless it is stopped, the Mexican "Reconquista" could obliterate U.S. standards of fairness.
Tax Evasion
Tax cuts for the very wealthy are draining America's budget more than the Iraq War.
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Is it haplessness or sheer unscrupulousness that's plaguing the Bush presidency?
Investor Politics
The disillusioned majority is right—America's government can be bought.
The Weimar Analogy
What danger lurks in the alienated hearts of America's nonvoters?
The Education of Peter Drucker
The biographer of renowned management expert Peter Drucker pays tribute to him as one of the twentieth century's greatest influences for the good.
Pat Buchanan's Utopia
The French "model" of integration is the American conservative ideal.
Blame Character
The predictive facts of Bush's disastrous presidency were there for journalists to see. Too bad they didn't look.
White-collar Wasteland
Barbara Ehrenreich's new book, Bait and Switch, is a subversive report from the front lines of disappointment.
Cold War II
With Iran, the only choices left are war and nuclear deterrence. And war is not the answer.
Bush's Folly
How could the billions going toward Iraq be better spent? Let us count the ways.
The Teddy Treatment
Theodore Roosevelt—"master therapist of the middle class"
Fighting Terrorism With Torture
On September 12, 2001, we merited the world's sympathy. Now we deserve its scorn.
Paris Hilton's Party
The repeal of the estate tax and the dawn of the United States of Aristocracy.
Oligarchy in America
How the Republican Party perfected the techniques of the rule of the few.
Recharging the "L-word"
For their party to thrive, Democrats must embrace the principle of economic interventionism that lies at the heart of liberalism.
Vision Impossible
The unbridgeable chasm between Bush's hopes for the world and America's power to realize them.
The Butcher's Bill
5,000 U.S. soldiers dead, 25,000 wounded, 4,000 bereaved children. A look at the future of the war in Iraq.
Clinton's Perverse Legacy
Is Clinton to blame for the Democratic Party's plight?
Letter to a Republican
The case against a vote for Bush.
"The Right Thing?"
Bush's notion of "the right thing" for Iraq was a disaster for America.
Your Health Insurance Is on the Ballot
The hidden agenda in Bush's "health-care reform" plan.
The Signs They Carried
Bush's detractors take to the streets with pithy eloquence.
The “City Upon a Hill”
In the first of several dispatches from the Democratic National Convention, Jack Beatty advises Democrats on what they can learn from Boston.
Scoop!
An advance look at the speech John Kerry will—or at any rate should—deliver at next week's Democratic convention in Boston.
Humphrey Redux?
Like Humphrey in '68, Kerry is out of step with voters on an upopular war.
Notes on the Unseen Convention
The underside of the Democratic National Convention.
Bush’s Monica Moment
Clinton's affair with Monica called his character into question; Bush's true colors emerged on 9/11.
History’s Fools
In the wake of Iraq, the term "neo-conservative" may come to mean "dangerous innocence about world realities"
The Party of the People
The Republicans, unlike the Democrats, have delivered what their constituency wants.
The Faith-Based Presidency
You can question Bush's veracity, his grip on reality, and the rationality of his policies, but not his faith.
Free Trade vs. Good Jobs
What led America's early leaders to break the law of free trade? Should we break it again?
The Real Real Deal
While John Kerry suffers from "terminal Senatitis," John Edwards exudes life and optimism.
President Coolidge's Burden
A recent biography places Coolidge's failed presidency in the context of the deep depression he fell into after the death of his son.
Who Can Beat George W. Bush?
The pundits are whispering that either Dean or Gephardt is likely to be the Democratic nominee. Which one of them can win?
The Friedman Principle
The influential New York Times columnist's vision of spreading democracy through the Arab world is this era's domino theory—and it is just as misguided.
"A Miserable Failure"
Will Bush be re-elected? Only if voters wittingly ignore his long list of failures while in office.
The One-Term Tradition
Bush should not be overly sanguine about his chances for re-election.
The War After the War
The attack on the UN will slow our efforts to rebuild Iraq—and further undermine our legitimacy there.
When the Sun Never Sets
The nefarious effects of Bush's latest tax cut will continue on, and on, and on.
Fatal Vision
Can we control the forces of religion unleashed by the war in Iraq?
A Country of Fear
Iraq will be better off after the war. But will America?
In the Name of God
Bush's rhetoric suggests that he feels God has chosen him to lead the U.S. against "Evil." Is that why Bush is dragging us into an unprovoked war?
The Road Better Not Taken
A war against Iraq could be the most catastrophic blunder in U.S. history.
The Track to Modernity
In a century of riotous change, the railroad's standardization of time stood out as a challenge to both nature and democracy.
The Temptation of War
A new memoir by Daniel Ellsberg, the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers, warns that Presidents will do anything to avoid losing wars.
On the Brink
The need for fundamental changes in politics and policy—and fast.
Pearl Harbor in Reverse
Iraq, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the question of a pre-emptive strike.
Feckless in Washington
Bush's economic team inspires little confidence at a time when confidence is badly needed.
The Resignation Principle
An open letter to Christine Todd Whitman.
The Expulsion From the Magic Kingdom
September 11 was America's Fall. Now we need to rethink national defense in an era of national insecurity.
A Culture of Credulity
By investing the Church and its priests with absolute authority, lay Catholics have unwittingly helped create a historic moral scandal.
Governing From His Biography
A President for whom tomorrow never comes.
Good Times for the Bad Guys
Enron is but one (grotesque) example of corporations that show no loyalty to their employees yet demand loyalty in return.
The Enron Ponzi Scheme
How many people were "Enroned"? How wide will the circle of corruption spread?
Warring Doubts
Many have died in Afghanistan to make us more secure. Are we?
Do as We Say, Not as We Do
Globalization might actually be good for poor countries, if only rich countries played by the rules.
The Inner Titan
In Giants of Enterprise, a portrait of seven American entrepreneurs, Richard Tedlow looks at what it takes to be a titan.
The Real Roots of Terror
The autocratic regimes of Saudi Arabia and Egypt distract their citizens from repression at home by directing their anger toward the U.S.
Listening to America
What we can learn from the "anguished, angry, fearful, plucky" voices of citizens talking about September 11 and its aftermath.
Order in the Family
Not our politicians but our public servants have called us to a higher standard.
Politics as Usual
In America, history shows, war does not override the calculus of politics.
The Bumbling Communicator
Television has finally found a President who speaks its language.
The Man Behind the Movement
Lyndon Johnson won the 1964 election, but Barry Goldwater, whose legacy is alive in the presidency of George W. Bush, won the war.
Truth and Consequences
The Boston Globe's sensational story on a well-respected historian's penchant for lying was irresponsible and unfair.
Cannibalistic Capitalism
White-Collar Sweatshop details the indignities of working in corporate America, where workers are paying the price for increased competition.
Plunder on the Right
Arsenic in the water? Carbon dioxide in the air? It may all be part of George Bush's re-election strategy.
Hitler's Willing Business Partners
A shocking account of IBM's complicity with the Nazis is a reminder that people bear moral responsibility for the actions of the corporation&mdasha point that critics have failed to grasp.
The Crooked Timber of Humanity
Philip Roth's recently completed trilogy of novels about America offers a vision of paradise lost.
The Search for the Smoking Gun
In taking on Big Tobacco as head of the FDA, David Kessler made a historic contribution to America's public health.
The Way It Wasn’t
An alternative history of the Clinton Administration.
Brigadoon, USA
A visit to an archetypal Vermont town.