Benjamin Schwarz (born October 20, 1963) is an American editor and writer. He has written articles, essays, monographs, and reviews on an array of subjects—from fashion to the American South, from current fiction to the archaeology, from national security to architecture, from the history of slavery to the history of childhood, and from international economics to Hollywood.
Early life
Schwarz was born on October 20, 1963. He holds a B.A. and an M.A. in history from
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...
, where he held the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation's Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities. Schwarz was a
Fulbright scholar
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
at
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the ...
,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
.
Career
Schwarz was the literary and the national editor of ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' from 2000 to 2013. In addition to writing, assigning, and editing prominent feature articles for the magazine, Schwarz ran, and wrote a regular column for, the ''Atlantics cultural and literary department, which under his editorship expanded its coverage to include popular culture and manners and mores, as well as books and ideas. The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...
'' wrote that Schwarz had "reshaped the venerable magazine's book section into the shrewdest, best-written and most surprising cultural report currently on offer between slick covers." The writers and friends he recruited to the Books section included
Perry Anderson
Francis Rory Peregrine "Perry" Anderson (born 11 September 1938) is a British intellectual, historian and essayist. His work ranges across historical sociology, intellectual history, and cultural analysis. What unites Anderson's work is a preoc ...
Sandra Tsing Loh
Sandra Tsing Loh (, born February 11, 1962) is an American writer, actress, radio personality, and former professor of art at the University of California, Irvine.
Life and career
Loh is the younger daughter of a Chinese father and a German mo ...
,
Christopher Hitchens
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...
Terry Castle
Terry Castle (born October 18, 1953) is an American literary scholar. Once described by Susan Sontag as "the most expressive, most enlightening literary critic at large today," she has published eight books, including the anthology ''The Literatu ...
Clive James
Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James; 7 October 1939 – 24 November 2019) was an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster, writer and lyricist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1962 until his death in 2019.B. R. Myers. Articles in Schwarz's section were
National Magazine Award
The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
finalists or winners in the Criticism category from 2000 to 2009. The ''Columbia Journalism Review'' described Schwarz as "the magazine's in-house intellectual." As a national correspondent for The Atlantic from 1995 to 2000, Schwarz wrote a series of provocative essays and reported articles that argued for a far more diminished global role for the United States. He also wrote a series of pieces on historical and literary subjects.
From 1995 to 1998 Schwarz was the executive editor of '' World Policy Journal'', where his chief mission was to bolster the coverage of cultural issues, international economics, and military affairs. For several years he was a foreign policy analyst at the
RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is finance ...
, where he researched and wrote on American global strategy, counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and military doctrine. At RAND Schwarz wrote a widely cited and highly critical assessment of American counterinsurgency doctrine and practice. Schwarz was also a staff member of the
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in e ...
. In 1999 Schwarz won the
Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing
The Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing, established in 1991, is an annual literary award presented by the National Book Critics Circle
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) wit ...
from the
National Book Critics Circle
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization (501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...
.
Schwarz is a consulting editor-at-large at Yale University Press. From 2014 through 2017, he was the national editor of ''
The American Conservative
''The American Conservative'' (''TAC'') is a magazine published by the American Ideas Institute which was founded in 2002. Originally published twice a month, it was reduced to monthly publication in August 2009, and since February 2013, it has ...
'', where he commissioned articles by writers on the left and wrote a series of articles on postwar social changes in Great Britain and on gentrification in the contemporary American city. He is writing a biography of
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
, to be published by HarperCollins.
Personal life
His wife, Christina, is the author of the bestselling novel, ''
Drowning Ruth
''Drowning Ruth'' is a 2000 bestselling novel by Christina Schwarz, author of five novels (as of 2021). ''Drowning Ruth'' was chosen as a selection for Oprah's Book Club in September 2000.
Plot summary
Amanda and Mathilda are two sisters ...