Michael John Tomasky (born October 13, 1960) is an American columnist, progressive commentator, and author. He is the editor of ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...

'' and editor in chief of ''

Democracy Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...

''. He has been a special correspondent for ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'', ''

The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...

'', a contributing editor for ''

The American Prospect ''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The American Prospect'' says it "is devoted t ...

'', and a contributor to ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

''.

Life and career

Tomasky was born and raised in

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as the home of West Virginia Universi ...

, the son of Maria (Aluisi) and Michael Tomasky, a trial attorney. He is of Serbian and Italian descent. He attended

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

as an undergraduate and then studied political science in graduate school at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

. His work has also appeared in ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', ''

Harper's Weekly ''Harper's Weekly, A Journal of Civilization'' was an American political magazine based in New York City. Published by Harper & Brothers from 1857 until 1916, it featured foreign and domestic news, fiction, essays on many subjects, and humor, ...

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the cr ...

'', ''

Dissent Dissent is an opinion, philosophy or sentiment of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or policy enforced under the authority of a government, political party or other entity or individual. A dissenting person may be referred to as ...

'', ''

Lingua Franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, vehicular language, or link language, is a language systematically used to make communication possible between groups ...

'', '' George'', and '' GQ''. He lives with his wife Sarah and daughter (Margot Julianna Kerr Tomasky, born July 6, 2010) in

Silver Spring, Maryland Silver Spring is a census-designated place (CDP) in southeastern Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, near Washington, D.C. Although officially unincorporated, in practice it is an edge city, with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ce ...

. From 1995 to 2002, Tomasky was a columnist at ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

'' magazine, where he wrote the "City Politic" column. He was later executive editor of liberal magazine ''

'', and remains a contributing editor. On October 23, 2007, '' Guardian America'' was launched with Tomasky as its editor. On March 3, 2009, he replaced Kenneth Baer as editor of U.S. political journal ''

'', at which time his title at ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' changed to editor-at-large. In May 2011 Tomasky left ''

'' to join ''

'' as a special correspondent.Democracy Editor Tomasky Joins Newsweek/Daily Beast
''

'', April 25, 2011 He is the editor of ''

''. Tomasky is the author of ''Left for Dead: The Life, Death, and Possible Resurrection of Progressive Politics in America'' (1996), and of ''Hillary's Turn: Inside Her Improbable, Victorious Senate Campaign'' (2001), a chronicle of

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

's successful election to the Senate in 2000.

Bibliography

Books

* * * *

Book reviews

References

External links

Column archive
at ''

''
Column archive
at ''

''
DemocracyColumn archive
at ''

''
Column archive
at ''

''
Conversations
with ''

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American former television journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show '' Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg LP. Rose also co- ...

'' *
Video discussions/debates involving Tomasky
on ''

Bloggingheads.tv Bloggingheads.tv (sometimes abbreviated "bhtv") is a political, world events, philosophy, and science video blog discussion site in which the participants take part in an active back and forth conversation via webcam which is then broadcast on ...

'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tomasky, Michael Living people 1960 births American columnists American male journalists American people of Italian descent American people of Serbian descent American political commentators American political writers Journalists from West Virginia Morgantown High School alumni New York University alumni People from Morgantown, West Virginia The New York Review of Books people The Village Voice people West Virginia University alumni Writers from West Virginia The New Republic people