''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of

United States politics The politics of the United States function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers. These are: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a b ...

and government that is based in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternative to the ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

'' and '' U.S. News & World Report'' rankings.

History

The magazine was founded on February 19, 1969, by Charles Peters, who wrote the "Tilting at Windmills" column in each issue until 2014. Paul Glastris, former speechwriter for

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

, has been ''Washington Monthlys editor-in-chief since 2001. In 2008, the magazine switched from a monthly to a bimonthly publication schedule, citing high publication costs. Past staff editors of the magazine include

Jonathan Alter Jonathan H. Alter (born October 6, 1957) is a liberal American journalist, best-selling author, Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker and television producer who was a columnist and senior editor for ''Newsweek'' magazine from 1983 until 2011. Alt ...

Taylor Branch Taylor Branch (born January 14, 1947) is an American author and historian who wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning trilogy chronicling the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and much of the history of the American civil rights movement. The final volume o ...

James Fallows James Mackenzie Fallows (born August 2, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. He is a former national correspondent for ''The Atlantic.'' His work has also appeared in '' Slate'', ''The New York Times Magazine'', ''The New York Review of Boo ...

, Joshua Green,

David Ignatius David Reynolds Ignatius (born May 26, 1950) is an American journalist and novelist. He is an associate editor and columnist for ''The Washington Post''. He has written eleven novels, including '' Body of Lies'', which director Ridley Scott adapt ...

Mickey Kaus Robert Michael "Mickey" Kaus (; born July 6, 1951) is an American journalist, pundit, and author, known for writing Kausfiles, a "mostly political" blog which was featured on ''Slate'' until 2010. Kaus is the author of ''The End of Equality'' and ...

Nicholas Lemann Nicholas Berthelot Lemann is an American writer and academic, the Joseph Pulitzer II and Edith Pulitzer Moore Professor of Journalism and Dean Emeritus of the Faculty of Journalism at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has be ...

, Suzannah Lessard,

Jon Meacham Jon Ellis Meacham (; born May 20, 1969) is an American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer who is serving as the current Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 7, 2021. A former executive editor ...

Timothy Noah Timothy Robert Noah (born 1958), an American journalist and author, is a staff writer at ''The New Republic.'' Previously he was labor policy editor for ''Politico'', a contributing writer at MSNBC.com, a senior editor of ''The New Republic'' ass ...

Joe Nocera Joseph Nocera (born May 6, 1952) is an American business journalist, and author. He has written for The New York Times since April 2005, writing for the Op-Ed page from 2011 to 2015. He was also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. Early ...

, Nicholas Thompson, and

Steven Waldman Steven Waldman is president and co-founder of Report for America, a national service program that places emerging journalists into local newsrooms. Previously he was Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, servi ...

. In 2008, the liberal watchdog and advocacy group Common Cause considered acquiring ''Washington Monthly'', but the deal fell apart.

Contents and viewpoint

The politics of ''Washington Monthly'' are often considered

center-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The ce ...

. Founder Charles Peters refers to himself as a New Deal Democrat and advocates the use of government to address social problems. His columns also frequently emphasized the importance of a vigilant " fourth estate" in keeping government honest. ''Washington Monthly'' features a continuing

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

; "Political Animal" was written principally by

Kevin Drum Kevin Drum (born October 19, 1958) is an American journalist. Drum initially rose to prominence through the popularity of his independent blog ''Calpundit'' (2003–2004). He later was invited to launch a blog, ''Political Animal'' (2004–2008) ...

for several years, with frequent guest contributions by ''Washington Monthly's'' current and alumni editors. In 2008,

Steve Benen Steve Benen (born May 15, 1973) is an American political writer, blogger, MSNBC contributor and producer of ''The Rachel Maddow Show'', for which he received two Emmy Awards in 2017. His first book, ''The Impostors: How Republicans Quit Governing ...

took over as lead blogger; in 2012, he was succeeded by Ed Kilgore. Kilgore left the magazine in 2015. In addition to "Political Animal," the magazine's website also hosts "Ten Miles Square," a general blog featuring posts from staff and political scientists, which debuted in 2011, and "College Guide," a blog about higher education, which the magazine began offering in 2009.

College rankings

''Washington Monthlys annual college and university rankings, a deliberate alternative college guide to '' U.S. News & World Report'' and ''

College Rankings'' among domestic publications, began as a research report in 2005. It was introduced as an official set of rankings in the September 2006 issue. Its "National Universities Rankings", most recently published in 2022, began as a research report in 2005, with rankings appearing in the September 2006 issue. ''Washington Monthly ''rates schools "based on their contribution to the public good in three broad categories: Social Mobility (recruiting and graduating low-income students), Research (producing cutting-edge scholarship and PhDs), and Service (encouraging students to give something back to their country)."

Funding

The ''Washington Monthly'' receives financial support from the

Lumina Foundation Lumina Foundation is a private, Indianapolis-based foundation with about $1.4 billion in assets. Since its founding in August 2000, Lumina has made grants totaling more than $250 million. History Lumina Foundation is a conversion foundation cre ...

to provide coverage of post-secondary education-related issues. The magazine has also received funding from the

Schumann Center for Media and Democracy The Schumann Center for Media and Democracy (formerly The Florence and John J. Schumann Jr. Foundation) was established in 1961, by Florence Ford and John J. Schumann Jr. The foundation states that its purpose is to renew the democratic process ...

, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and individual supporters, including

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway. He is one of the most successful investors in the world and has a net ...

and

Markos Kounalakis Markos Kounalakis ( el, Μάρκος Κουναλάκης; born December 1, 1956) is an American syndicated journalist and scholar who is the second gentleman of California as the husband of lieutenant governor Eleni Kounalakis. Kounalakis wri ...

References

External links

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Washington Monthly National College Rankings

''New York Review of Magazines'', May 2008. {{DEFAULTSORT:Washington Monthly 1969 establishments in Washington, D.C. Monthly magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1969 Magazines published in Washington, D.C. Political magazines published in the United States University and college rankings in the United States