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'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

'' and editor in chief of ''

Democracy Democracy (from , ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which political power is vested in the people or the population of a state. Under a minimalist definition of democracy, rulers are elected through competitiv ...

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

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly news magazine based in New York City. Founded as a weekly print magazine in 1933, it was widely distributed during the 20th century and has had many notable editors-in-chief. It is currently co-owned by Dev P ...

'', '' The Daily Beast'', 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 in the United States, progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The America ...

'', 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 ...

''.

Life and career

Tomasky was born and raised in

Morgantown, West Virginia Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. It is situated along the Monongahela River in North Central West Virginia and is the home of West Virginia University. The population was 30,347 at the 2 ...

, the son of Maria (Aluisi) and Michael Tomasky, a trial attorney. He is of Serbian and Italian descent. He graduated from Morgantown High School. He attended West Virginia University as an undergraduate and then studied political science in graduate school at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. His work has also appeared in '' The New York Times Book Review'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''

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

'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is a progressive American monthly 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 ...

'', ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'', ''

'', '' Dissent'', ''

Lingua Franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

'', '' 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 area, unincorporated, it is an edge city with a population of 81,015 at the 2020 ...

. From 1995 to 2002, Tomasky was a columnist at '' New York'' 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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

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

'' to join ''

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

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

''.

Works

Books

* * * *

Book reviews

* Reviewed: ;

References

External links

Column archive
at ''

''
Column archive
at '' The Daily Beast''
DemocracyColumn archive
at ''

''
Column archive
at ''

''
Conversations
with ''

Charlie Rose Charles Peete Rose Jr. (born January 5, 1942) is an American journalist and talk show host. From 1991 to 2017, he was the host and executive producer of the talk show ''Charlie Rose (talk show), Charlie Rose'' on PBS and Bloomberg L.P., Bloombe ...

'' *
Video discussions/debates involving Tomasky
on '' Bloggingheads.tv'' {{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