The Atlantic

For the ocean, see Atlantic Ocean. For other uses, see Atlantic (disambiguation).

The Atlantic
Cover of the first issue
Editor-in-chiefJeffrey Goldberg
Former editorsJames Bennet
Categories
  • Literature
  • political science
  • foreign affairs
  • lifestyle
Frequency
  • Monthly (1857–2000, 2025–)
  • Eleven issues a year (2001–2002)
  • Ten issues a year (2003–2024)
PublisherLaurene Powell Jobs
Total circulation
(2024)		1,107,293[1]
Founder
Founded1857; 167 years ago (1857)
First issueNovember 1, 1857; 167 years ago (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 based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.

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[3][4] and prominent writers Ralph Waldo Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and John Greenleaf Whittier.[5][6] James Russell Lowell was its first editor.[7] During the 19th and 20th centuries, the magazine also published the annual The Atlantic Monthly Almanac.[8] The magazine was purchased in 1999 by businessman David G. Bradley, who fashioned it into a general editorial magazine primarily aimed at serious national readers and "thought leaders"; in 2017, he sold a majority interest in the publication to Laurene Powell Jobs's Emerson Collective.[9][10][11]

The magazine was published monthly until 2001, when 11 issues were produced; since 2003, it has published 10 per year. It dropped "Monthly" from the cover with the January/February 2004 issue, and officially changed the name in 2007.[12] In 2024, it announced that it will resume publishing monthly issues in 2025.[13][14]

In 2016, the periodical was named Magazine of the Year by the American Society of Magazine Editors.[15] In 2022, its writers won Pulitzer Prizes for feature writing and, in 2022, 2023, and 2024 The Atlantic won the award for general excellence by the American Society of Magazine Editors. In 2024, it was reported that the magazine had crossed one million subscribers[13] and become profitable, three years after losing $20 million in a single year and laying off 17% of its staff.

As of 2024, the website's executive editor is Adrienne LaFrance, the editor-in-chief is Jeffrey Goldberg, and the CEO is Nicholas Thompson.

  1. ^ "Total Circ for Magazine Media". Alliance for Audited Media. June 30, 2024. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  2. ^ "Historical Facts About The Atlantic". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on April 22, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2016.
  3. ^ 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...
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ 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."
  6. ^ Goodman, Susan (2011). Republic of Words: The Atlantic Monthly and Its Writers. p. 90.
  7. ^ "The Atlantic | History, Ownership, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  8. ^ "The Atlantic Monthly Almanac". University of Pennsylvania libraries. Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Lee, Edmund (July 28, 2017). "Laurene Powell Jobs is buying the Atlantic magazine". Recode. Archived from the original on April 9, 2019. Retrieved September 17, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ "Laurene Powell Jobs - Politico 50 2018". Politico. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2018.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ a b Stelter, Brian (October 11, 2024). "The Atlantic is expanding its print magazine as it surpasses 1 million subscribers | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved October 11, 2024.
  14. ^ "The Atlantic to Grow Newsroom and Return to Monthly Publication in 2025". The Atlantic (Press release). October 11, 2024. Retrieved October 13, 2024.
  15. ^ 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.