Dear reader,
I write today to thank you for supporting The Atlantic. A democratic civilization depends on an independent press to stay free, and an independent press counts on the generosity of readers to support it through vexing times. We are immensely grateful that you have chosen to support our mission, and we hope that you are finding our work helpful and illuminating.
Our own offices have emptied. Our team is scattered across the country—across much of the globe. But we are working harder than ever to provide you with the best possible information and analysis about the coronavirus pandemic. I am very proud of our team; they have trail-blazed all along the way, leading international coverage of this crisis.
We at The Atlantic often look to our long history for solace. Our magazine was born before the Civil War, and it survived that conflagration. It survived the 1918 influenza pandemic, and the Great Depression, and World War II, and every other period of tumult and dislocation in America these past 163 years. We will struggle through this new pandemic, and come out the other side needing to examine what went wrong, and how this experience has changed America, and the world.
One of my predecessors, Edward Weeks, wrote in 1957 that The Atlantic is most in demand during times of anxiety. An excellent way to answer anxiety is with information—smart, accurate, rigorously vetted information—information that our team has been providing our tens of millions of readers right from the beginning.
I want to share with you some of the best of our most recent work. The stories I've selected here were all written and published well ahead of the curve—a testament to the brilliance and tenacity of our journalists. Thank you again for your support, and let me wish you good health and safety at this trying moment.
