Latest news with #Today'sOpinions
Atlantic
4 days ago
- Politics
- Atlantic
The Atlantic hires Jake Lundberg as first staff archivist and historian, and Drew Goins as senior editor
Today The Atlantic is announcing two new staff on the editorial team: Jake Lundberg, a staff writer who is The Atlantic 's first in-house historian and archivist; and Drew Goins as a senior editor. Jake joins The Atlantic from the University of Notre Dame, where he was a director of the undergraduate history program and an associate teaching professor since 2016. Drew comes from The Washington Post, where he was most recently the creator and writer of the Today's Opinions newsletter and host of the Impromptu podcast. At The Atlantic, Drew will help think through strategies to develop and strengthen relationships with readers. Below is editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg's note to staff announcing Jake Lundberg: For the first time, The Atlantic will have an in-house historian and archivist. This dream job is being filled by a brilliant academic and writer named Jake Lundberg, who comes to us from the University of Notre Dame, where he has been director of the undergraduate history program and an associate teaching professor since 2016. The creation of a special staff writer role for an Atlantic historian has been a goal of mine for many years. One reason this role took so long to fill is that we were inundated with interest, and we were forced to plough through an enormous number of candidates (though it would also be fair to say that Jake stood out as soon as he came to our attention). A little background. A friend of mine, a former Pakistani ambassador to the U.S., says that America is the only place on Earth where the expression 'That's history' means, 'That's irrelevant.' He is, unfortunately, correct. We suffer as a nation and as a culture because we don't know where we come from or how we got here. It's extraordinarily important, particularly now, to fight against the forces of willed amnesia and pernicious propaganda, and ammunition for this fight can be found in The Atlantic 's 168-year-old archives. Jake is a great person to unearth the riches of our history, and history generally, and to contextualize what he finds. He has a PhD in History from Yale with an emphasis on American culture, ideas, and media, and is the author of Horace Greeley: Print, Politics, and the Failure of American Nationhood. (Here's a delightful 1930 accounting of Greeley's life, with an emphasis on his Civil War years, written by William Augustus Croffut, who died in 1915. Why this piece appeared 15 years after the author's death is a mystery for Jake to solve.) Jake has already written for us; here's his excellent piece about the 11-year-old girl who was most likely responsible for Abraham Lincoln's iconic facial hair. Our effort to bring the archives to life that has already achieved excellent results, thanks in good measure to the work of Shan Wang. Her perpetual digging uncovered A Century-Old Byline Mystery, about the unknown writer who foreshadowed the Titanic disaster. She is a key leader in our newsroom who helps connect our work, old and new, to Atlantic readers. Shan will continue her archives work, of course, in addition to fulfilling her many other leadership responsibilities. Below is an announcement about Drew Goins, from managing editor Bhumika Tharoor: We're thrilled to welcome Drew Goins as a senior editor! Drew joins us from The Washington Post, where he was most recently the creator and writer of the Today's Opinions newsletter and host of the Impromptu podcast. He will report to me, and will be helping think through strategies to develop and strengthen relationships with readers. To start, he will be focused on how we can use trivia to create new and engaging experiences for our audience—something he is well positioned for as a Jeopardy! champion. Drew is from North Carolina and graduated from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied journalism, music, and Hispanic linguistics, the latter of which has resulted in a lot of strong thoughts on vowel placement, if you ever have a spare hour and a half. I'm sure Drew will feel right at home here at The Atlantic, and not only because he's in good company with fellow Jeopardy! stars. We're excited for him to bring his talents, and fun facts, to our team. The Atlantic has welcomed a number of editors and writers this year, including managing editor Griff Witte; staff writers Tom Bartlett, Isaac Stanley-Becker, Idrees Kahloon, Tyler Austin Harper, Quinta Jurecic, Nick Miroff, Toulouse Olorunnipa, Ashley Parker, Alexandra Petri, Missy Ryan, Michael Scherer, Jamie Thompson, Josh Tyrangiel, Caity Weaver, and Nancy Youssef; and senior editors Jenna Johnson and Dan Zak. Please reach out with any questions or requests.
Washington Post
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
The Vietnam War remade us. Do we even remember it?
You're reading the Today's Opinions newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox. In today's edition: It's 50 years since the Vietnam War ended, and as Keith Richburg writes, living memory of the disastrous conflict is disappearing. For the baby boomers, Vietnam reshaped the U.S. military and the American public's relationship with government writ large; for younger generations, Keith writes, Vietnam is 'better known for beaches and backpackers than the war that bears its name.'
Washington Post
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Is a ranked-choice conclave too much to ask?
You're reading the Today's Opinions newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox. In today's edition: Pope Francis died early Monday, and now the whole world is, ironically, evaluating the papacy of the man who redefined it by asking, 'Who am I to judge?' E.J. Dionne does not find the pontiff wanting. He writes that Francis 'moved Catholicism's center of gravity,' and that anyone who argues the pope divided the church misses the fact that the church was plenty divided already — Francis merely made visible the splits.
Washington Post
18-04-2025
- General
- Washington Post
America's 250-year-old promises, not always kept
You're reading the Today's Opinions newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox. In today's edition: Two hundred fifty years ago tomorrow, the American Revolution began in Lexington, Massachusetts, 'a bucolic crossroads,' historian and reporter Rick Atkinson writes, 'of 750 people and 400 cows.' Things would eventually get bigger.
Washington Post
09-04-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
A Korean adoptee's 30-year search for answers
You're reading the Today's Opinions newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox. In today's edition: In the 1950s, to recover from economic devastation brought by back-to-back wars, South Korea devised what would become a lucrative adoption industry. Two weeks ago, an investigation by the South Korean government revealed that the profitable scheme was built on coercion and deception of vulnerable parents. In a heart-wrenching essay, Laura Manley, born in South Korea and adopted 30 years ago by an American couple, shares the saga of her life — and her birth mother's. What began as a love story between her birth parents turned tragic when her father suffered a ruptured brain aneurysm that effectively left her mother to raise a newborn alone — 'nearly impossible in a society deeply rooted in patriarchal and traditionalist values,' Manley writes. Manley's mother was persuaded to leave the child in the care of an orphanage for what she believed would be a few months; those months turned into sorrowful years when the child was sent to the United States for adoption without her birth mother's knowledge. Manley's narration of their long-awaited reunion is enough to leave you misty-eyed, as she presses South Korea to deliver the justice 'that so many families, including mine, have waited too long to see.' From Democratic pollster Evan Roth Smith's analysis of Musk's influence on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Despite Musk spending an estimated $20 million to support the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, Smith's polling reveals that the billionaire had negligible positive persuasive power: Only 4 percent of voters reported that Musk's endorsement made them more likely to support Schimel. In fact, Musk's aggressive campaign had the opposite effect: Voters were more likely to support the liberal candidate because of Musk's opposition to her. As Democrats strategize how to reclaim power, Smith suggests they capitalize on Musk's unpopularity — the bad impression he leaves on voters could be their good luck charm. Eduardo Porter knows what it's like to grow up in the 'Third World.' So he also knows what it's like to revere America's status as 'the most affluent and powerful nation on Earth.' Eduardo finds Trump's whining that America has been at the 'mercy of other countries with big manufacturing industries' — his rationale for levying hefty tariffs on all those swindlers — confusing and ahistorical. 'It was, after all, the U.S. Treasury that pushed the core ideas that shaped the era of globalization,' Eduardo writes. The norms of liberal international trade and macroeconomic discipline? Straight from Washington's financial manifesto. If Trump is eager to see what happens when ill-prepared countries overbet on domestic production, Eduardo advises that he study up on 1970s Latin America — and heed the debt, corruption and stymied innovation engendered by overly ambitious protectionism. It's a goodbye. It's a haiku. It's … The Bye-Ku. No substitute for The U.S.-made world order Sold in the trade war *** Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to Drew, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
