The Atlantic

The Atlantic
The magazine's April 2016 cover
Editor-in-chiefJeffrey Goldberg
Former editorsJames Bennet
Categories
  • Literature
  • political science
  • foreign affairs
  • lifestyle
FrequencyTen issues a year
PublisherLaurene Powell Jobs
Total circulation
(2023)
925,872[1]
Founder
Founded1857 (1857)
First issueNovember 1, 1857 (1857-11-01) (as The Atlantic Monthly)
CompanyEmerson Collective
CountryUnited States
Based inWashington, D.C., U.S.[2]
LanguageEnglish
Websitetheatlantic.com
ISSN1072-7825 (print)
2151-9463 (web)
OCLC936540106

The Atlantic is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.[3]

It was founded in 1857 in Boston as The Atlantic Monthly, a literary and cultural magazine that published leading writers' commentary on education, the abolition of slavery, and other major political issues of that time. Its founders included Francis H. Underwood[4][5] and prominent writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier.[6][7] James Russell Lowell was its first editor.[8] In addition, The Atlantic Monthly Almanac was an annual almanac published for Atlantic Monthly readers during the 19th and 20th centuries.[9] A change of name was not officially announced when the format first changed from a strict monthly (appearing 12 times a year) to a slightly lower frequency. It was a monthly magazine for 144 years until 2001, when it published 11 issues; it has published 10 issues yearly since 2003. It dropped "Monthly" from the cover beginning with the January/February 2004 issue, and officially changed the name in 2007.

After experiencing financial hardship and undergoing several ownership changes in the late 20th century, the magazine was purchased by businessman David G. Bradley, who refashioned it as a general editorial magazine primarily aimed at serious national readers and "thought leaders".[10]

In 2010, The Atlantic posted its first profit in a decade.[11] In 2016, the periodical was named Magazine of the Year from the American Society of Magazine Editors.[12]

In July 2017, Bradley sold a majority interest in the publication to Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective.[13][14][15]

In 2021 and 2022, its writers won Pulitzer Prizes for feature writing and, in 2022, it won the award for general excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors.

The website's executive editor is Adrienne LaFrance, the editor-in-chief is Jeffrey Goldberg, and the CEO is Nicholas Thompson. The magazine publishes 10 times a year.[16]

  1. ^ "Total Circ for Magazine Media". Alliance for Audited Media. June 30, 2023. Retrieved January 18, 2024.
  2. ^ "Historical Facts About The Atlantic". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on April 22, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  3. ^ "The Atlantic". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  4. ^ Chevalier, Tracy (2012). "The Atlantic Monthly American magazine, 1857". Encyclopaedia of the Essay. The Atlantic Monthly was founded in Boston in 1857 by Francis Underwood (an assistant to the publisher...
  5. ^ Sedgwick, Ellery (2009) [1994]. A History of the Atlantic Monthly, 1857–1909: Yankee Humanism at High Tide and Ebb (Reprint ed.). Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press. p. 3. ISBN 9781558497931. OCLC 368048027.
  6. ^ Whittier, John Greenleaf (1975). The Letters of John Greenleaf Whittier. Vol. 2. p. 318. "... owever, was the founding of the Atlantic Monthly in 1857. Initiated by Francis Underwood and with Lowell as its first editor, the magazine had been sponsored and organized by Lowell, Emerson, Holmes, and Longfellow."
  7. ^ Goodman, Susan (2011). Republic of Words: The Atlantic Monthly and Its Writers. p. 90.
  8. ^ "The Atlantic | History, Ownership, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  9. ^ "'The Atlantic Monthly Almanac', University of Pennsylvania libraries". Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
  10. ^ "Home page". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on July 6, 2017. Retrieved October 7, 2010.
  11. ^ Peters, Jeremy W. (December 12, 2010). "Web Focus Helps Revitalize The Atlantic". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved March 26, 2012.
  12. ^ Steigrad, Alexandra (February 2, 2016). "The American Society of Magazine Editors Crowns The Atlantic Magazine of the Year at Ellies". WWD. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  13. ^ White, Gillian B. (July 28, 2017). "Emerson Collective Acquires Majority Stake in The Atlantic". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved July 28, 2017.
  14. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs is buying the Atlantic magazine". Recode. Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  15. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs - Politico 50 2018". Politico. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  16. ^ Kuczynski, Alex (May 7, 2001). "Media Talk: This Summer, It's the Atlantic Not-Monthly". The New York Times. Archived from the original on July 17, 2016. Retrieved October 7, 2010.