On March 1, the Atlantic Media Company's Chairman named James Bennet as The Atlantic's next editor.
 Share
|
Email
Print
|
On March 1, the Atlantic Media Company's Chairman named James Bennet as The Atlantic's next editor.
Earlier today James Bennet accepted my offer to become the 14th editor in The Atlantic's 150-year run. For those who don't know James or his work, I'll offer the quickest narrative. James is a Washingtonian, educated first at St. Albans and then at Yale. Taking a path followed by some of the great journalists of our times (Jim Fallows, Nick Lemann, Michael Kinsley), James began his writing and editing career under Charlie Peters at the Washington Monthly. His climb through the ranks of the New York Times, thereafter, has been vertical: metro reporter, Detroit bureau chief, White House correspondent, Sunday Magazine staff writer, Jerusalem bureau chief and, now, studying Chinese preparing for reassignment to Beijing. Not irrelevant to The Atlantic, James is among the Times' most respected long-form writers.
Beginning last April, I began traveling the country and asking advice on the extreme talent today in American journalism. Though hardly all were candidates themselves, just under eighty editors and writers spent time with me, offering names, offering counsel.
The deliberate search did have this advantage. Seeing so many professionals of exceptional talent, you begin to get a "lock" on the nature and character and talent that you think would best fit the organization. Even before I met James in this round, I had a view of what a James might be. Here, and in particular, I wanted a profound and extreme talent who led quietly, was generous to others, and comported himself with collegial respect. On all scores, but surely these, I have conviction on James' appointment.
—David Bradley
Doin' It in the Park: No Gatorade (Excerpt)
The Visual Clichés of Instagram
Synthetic Biology
David H. Freedman on smartphone apps and the perfected self, Mark Bowden on being in the dumb kids' class, James Parker on Glenn Beck, Isaac Chotiner on P. G. Wodehouse, and more
Browse back issues of The Atlantic that have appeared on the Web. From September 1995 to the present, the archive is essentially complete, with the exception of a few articles, the online rights to which are held exclusively by the authors.
See All Back Issues: September 1995
New York's Mayor Declares War on Soda
Seattle Man Kills Five People Before Shooting Himself
Marvin Kalb Proud to Defend Arnaud De Borchgrave
What Critics Get Wrong About Creative Cities
Great Moments in the History of Boondoggles
The Pseudo-Suburbanist's Dilemma
![The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic]](http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/nancy_scola/amercia.thumb.screenshot.jpg "The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic]")
Join the Discussion
After you comment, click Post. If you’re not already logged in you will be asked to log in or register. blog comments powered by Disqus