The Atlantic

The Atlantic is an American magazine and website based in Washington, D.C.. It has articles about politics, international affairs, business, culture, technology, and science.

It started in 1857 in Boston as The Atlantic Monthly, a literary and cultural magazine. It published important writers and talked about big issues like education and the abolition of slavery. Famous people such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Harriet Beecher Stowe were among its founders and writers. James Russell Lowell was its first editor.

Over the years, The Atlantic became known for serious and thoughtful writing for adults. In 1999, businessman David G. Bradley bought the magazine and helped make it very successful. In 2024, it was reported that the magazine had over one million subscribers. Today, Jeffrey Goldberg is the editor-in-chief, and Adrienne LaFrance is the executive editor of its website.

Founding

19th century

In fall of 1857, Moses Dresser Phillips, a publisher from Boston, started The Atlantic Monthly. He shared his idea for the magazine at a dinner with famous writers and thinkers, including R. W. Emerson, H. W. Longfellow, and O. W. Holmes. At the dinner, Phillips talked about his plan to create a magazine that would discuss important topics.

Harriet Beecher Stowe was asked to join the dinner but could not because alcohol was served. She later helped create the goals for the magazine and is considered one of its founders. The first issue of The Atlantic was published in November 1857 and became well-known as one of the best magazines in the English-speaking world.

Later, in 1878, the magazine joined with another magazine called The Galaxy, which had published works by famous writers like Mark Twain and Walt Whitman. By 1879, The Atlantic had offices in Boston and New York City.

Literary history

The Atlantic has been an important magazine for writers and readers. It was the first to share important poems and stories by famous writers like Julia Ward Howe and Charles Chesnutt. It has helped start many writing careers.

Editors at The Atlantic have noticed big changes in culture and society. For example, it published a famous letter by Martin Luther King Jr. during a time of big changes. The magazine has also shared ideas that helped create new technologies.

The Atlantic continues to be a place where important stories are told and where writers share their ideas with the world.

Political viewpoint

The Atlantic has shared its opinions on U.S. presidential elections for many years. In 1860, it supported Abraham Lincoln and ending slavery. In 1964, it backed Lyndon B. Johnson for president.

More recently, The Atlantic endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. In 2024, it supported Kamala Harris in her campaign against Donald Trump. The magazine has often spoken out against Trump.

Format

Atlantic website access

The Atlantic website has four ways people can pay to read articles as of 2025. Subscribers can read all articles, including old ones and stories told out loud, and get extra features. The basic way to pay is called "Digital." The "Print & Digital" way also includes the printed magazine. The "Premium" way removes ads and costs $120 per year.

The Atlantic first went online in 1993 with AOL and launched its own website in 1995. For many years, only people who got the printed magazine could read the website, but this changed in January 2008. Since then, readers have had different ways to access content, including paying for reading without ads or agreeing to see ads.

Aspen Ideas Festival

Main article: Aspen Ideas Festival

In 2005, The Atlantic started the Aspen Ideas Festival with the Aspen Institute. This ten-day event happens each year in Aspen, Colorado. It includes many speakers, sessions, and people attending. The festival brings together important people from politics, journalism, and other fields to talk about ideas.

The Atlantic Wire

In 2009, The Atlantic began The Atlantic Wire, a website that collects news and opinions from many sources. It shared different viewpoints and also made its own stories. The site changed its name to The Wire in 2013 and later joined back with The Atlantic. It also started making videos in 2011.

CityLab

In 2011, The Atlantic created CityLab, a website about cities and urban life. It talks about ideas and problems cities face around the world. CityLab was renamed CityLab.com in 2014 and covers topics like transportation and the environment. In 2019, CityLab was sold to Bloomberg Media.

Praise, retractions, legal issues, and controversies

In June 2006, the Chicago Tribune named The Atlantic one of the top ten English-language magazines.

Over the years, The Atlantic has faced some challenges. In 2013, it published content that looked like a regular article but was actually advertising. This led to criticism, and the magazine later removed the content and apologized.

In 2018, the magazine published a story that many readers disagreed with. The magazine later shared different viewpoints on the topic.

In 2019, The Atlantic published an article about a movie director that affected his career.

In 2020, the magazine faced legal issues in Japan over an article.

In 2020, The Atlantic had to remove an article after questions about the author's trustworthiness arose. The author later sued the magazine, and in 2025, the two sides settled.

In 2024, the magazine ended its relationship with a contributor after serious accusations were made.

In 2025, some national-security leaders accidentally included an Atlantic editor in a private chat.

Ownership and editors

In the beginning, a company in Boston published the magazine. In 1908, a new editor named Ellery Sedgwick bought it.

In 1980, a businessman named Mortimer Zuckerman bought the magazine. In 1999, he gave it to David G. Bradley, who moved the magazine to Washington, D.C., in 2005. This let editors and writers from different Bradley magazines work together.

Many editors led the magazine over the years, including James Bennet and Jeffrey Goldberg. In 2017, Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple’s Steve Jobs, became the main owner. In 2019, Adrienne LaFrance became an executive editor, and in 2020, Nicholas Thompson became the CEO.