Atlantic Unbound Archive

Joshua Green

Joshua GreenJoshua Green is a senior editor of The Atlantic who has covered politics since joining the magazine in 2003. He has also written for The New Yorker, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and other publications. Previously, he was an editor at The Washington Monthly. He began his career as an editor at the satirical weekly, The Onion (back at a time when that failed to impress anyone). Recently he was named one of Columbia Journalism Review's ten young writers on the rise. His writing has been anthologized in books ranging from The Best American Political Writing 2009 to The Bob Marley Reader.

Recent articles by Joshua Green

March 2010

Management Secrets of the Grateful Dead

Why business professors, ethnomusicologists, sociologists, and (of all things) management theorists are suddenly taking the Grateful Dead very seriously.

January 12, 2010

Did George W. Bush Doom Mark McGwire?

Somebody blocked the baseball slugger from getting an immunity deal.

September 2009

Inbred Jed

The Strenuous Life of a B-Movie Zombie.

July 3, 2009

Selling the Post Dinners

The publisher's email and invitation to one lawmaker show a different side of the story.

July/August 2009

The Elusive Green Economy

Barack Obama is preaching the gospel of clean energy. Can he succeed where Jimmy Carter failed?

April 2009

Cannabusiness

Assembling a hydro hut, buying a gun safe, cleaning up after neighborhood dogs—the ABC’s of opening a pot franchise.

February 10, 2009

Does A-Rod Have a Date With Congress?

As with the banks, the real danger to Major League Baseball is not about the star players; it’s about what remains hidden.

January/February 2009

The Man in the Middle

What Chuck Schumer thinks he knows about the middle class; a profile.

November 2008

All the Right Moves

Will former NBA all-star Kevin Johnson become the next mayor of Sacramento?

October 16, 2008

This Story Doesn't Cell

Did Verizon give John McCain special treatment?

October 22, 2008

Sarah Palin’s Personal Shopper

Meet the Republican Party's fashion guru.

October 2008

Rethinking 2008

Joshua Green is an Atlantic senior editor. Marc Ambinder is an Atlantic associate editor. He blogs at marcambinder.theatlantic.com.

September 2, 2008

The "Eagleton Scenario"

Could Sarah Palin become the first running mate since Thomas Eagleton in 1972 to be dropped from a major-party ticket? Joshua Green offers a look at how such a scenario would unfold.

September 4, 2008

The Palin Effect

Where grassroots delegates and professional operatives part ways.

September 26, 2008

Why There's No Deal Yet

Henry Paulson’s dropping to one knee to woo Nancy Pelosi suggests, troublingly, that he doesn’t get Congress. The target of seduction should be the leader on the other side of the aisle.

September 2008

The Front-Runner’s Fall

Hillary Clinton’s campaign was undone by a clash of personalities more toxic than anyone imagined. E-mails and memos—published here for the first time—reveal the backstabbing and conflicting strategies that produced an epic meltdown.

August 11, 2008

The Hillary Clinton Memos

A complete index to the internal communications referenced in "The Front-Runner's Fall"

August 2008 Unbound

Who Says Penn is Finished?

He could be back sooner than you think.

August 27, 2008

Hillary Goes Out With a Whimper

"Clinton didn't seem angry or betrayed or entitled or any of the things that critics have attributed to her—she seemed merely unenthused, and so did the audience."

August 27, 2008

Bill Clinton Is Back

"Given the pettiness of recent intraparty squabbling, in particular Clinton's own behavior in the primaries, his speech was a reminder of his astonishing political skill... his legacy and his future as his party's elder statesman are more than intact."

July/August 2008

MySpace Politics

June 2008

The Amazing Money Machine

How Silicon Valley made Barack Obama this year’s hottest start-up.

May 2008

He’s Not Joking

Al Franken’s political future—and maybe Democratic dominance of the Senate—depends on his ability to keep a (mostly) straight face between now and November. [Web only: Video: "He's Not Joking"]

March 21, 2008

McCain's Purple Cow

John McCain's actions on behalf of Vicki Iseman barely differ from the earmarking he has spent a career railing against.

February 2008 Unbound

Inside the Clinton Shake-Up

How Hillary's campaign managed itself into a ditch—and how it might get itself out.

February 14, 2008

'Roid Rage

What the professional sports world doesn't get about Washington.

January 2008 Unbound

What's Next for Wall Street?

The presidential campaign has financial executives more concerned about who wins than they have been in years—or it ought to.

January 31, 2008

Waiting for Gore

Department of Wild Speculation.

December 2007

Google’s Tar Pit

Can Google “not be evil” and still fend off the government?

October 19, 2007

The Colbert Notion

Stephen Colbert plans to run for president in South Carolina. Here's a campaign strategy—and a list of who should worry.

September 2007

The Rove Presidency

Karl Rove had the plan, the power, and the historic chance to remake American politics. What went wrong?

April 12, 2007

Karl Rove's Voter Fraud Fetish

The Bush administration cracks down on a phantom menace.

March 2007

They Won’t Know What Hit Them

The software mogul Tim Gill has a mission: Stop the Rick Santorums of tomorrow before they get started. How a network of gay political donors is stealthily fighting sexual discrimination and reshaping American politics.

January/February 2007

Surprise Party

Dismayed by the system they helped to create, some veteran political strategists are out to create a better choice in 2008.

November 2006

Do Polls Still Work?

The last two elections have left pollsters somewhat bloodied but unbowed.

November 2006

Take Two: Hillary's Choice

How Hillary Clinton turned herself into the consummate Washington player.

June 2006

The New War Over Wal-Mart

The mounting attacks on the world’s largest company could change American business—and transform the health-care system.

May 2006

The Numbers War

In Washington, measuring the changing size of the Iraqi insurgency has become the battle to watch.

April 2006

Jock Itch

Lynn Swann's run for governor shows why political pros are big fans of star athletes.

March 2006

Schools for Scandal

Republicans might—or might not—want to look backward for lessons on handling life under a cloud.

January/February 2006

Company, Left

There's something different about the latest crop of military veterans running for Congress.

October 2005

Roy and His Rock

Roy Moore, the "Ten Commandments Judge," has embarked on an odyssey that is taking him and his controversial monument far beyond his home state of Alabama. He wants the Republican Party to bow down.

June 2005

The Odd Couple

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, old-fashioned Democrats, have the charge—but so far few signs of the ability—to sell their party to America.

May 2005

It Isn't the Message, Stupid

A new kind of guru is convincing Democrats that they don't need new ideas after all—a snazzy new sales pitch will revive their fortunes.

April 2005

The Air America Plan

Liberal talk radio is off the ground. Will the electorate turn blue, or just red in the face?

March 2005

J-School for Jerks

How you, too, can learn to behave like Bill O'Reilly.

November 2004

Karl Rove in a Corner

Karl Rove is at his most formidable when running close races, and his skills would be notable even if he used no extreme methods. But use them he does.

July/August 2004

Dumb and Dumber

Why are campaign commercials so bad?

June 2004

Playing Dirty

This year's presidential campaign is already shaping up to be even more negative than the last. That's no accident. Our correspondent looks at the cloak-and-dagger world of opposition research—the updated version of "dirty tricks"

May 2004

Funny Business

When you're running for President, humor is no laughing matter.

April 2004

Second Coming

Ralph Reed, now born again as a political strategist, has moved on from doing God's work to doing George W. Bush's.

March 2004

Madonna Wants Me

Every candidate now needs a "celebrity wrangler"—matchmaker to the stars.

March 2004

The Southern Cross

Georgians want the Confederate emblem back on their state flag, and are frustrated that a referendum this month won't give them that option. What they don't know is that if the emblem's creator were alive, he'd vote to bury it.

January/February 2004

A Gambling Man

Blair Hull thinks he has found the formula for how to buy a Senate seat.

January/February 2004

In Search of the Elusive Swing Voter

It almost doesn't matter who the Democratic candidate is. In terms of strategy, the road map for the coming presidential campaign was set long before the primaries—and it runs straight through the handful of states with the largest numbers of independent voters. Any candidate needs to hunt them down.

October 2003

Force Multiplier

Wesley Clark is not Haig and not Eisenhower. And some Democrats are hoping he won't be Cuomo.