John Cullen Murphy, Jr. (born September 1, 1952) is an American writer, journalist and editor who was managing 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, ...

'' magazine from 1985 to 2006. He was born in New Rochelle, New York, in 1952, a son of illustrator and cartoonist

John Cullen Murphy John Cullen Murphy (May 3, 1919 – July 2, 2004) was an American illustrator best known for his three decades of work on the ''Prince Valiant'' comic strip. Early life and education Born in New York City, Murphy spent his childhood in Chicago a ...

. He grew up in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich (, ) is a town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. At the 2020 census, the town had a total population of 63,518. The largest town on Connecticut's Gold Coast, Greenwich is home to many hedge funds and other ...

. His family moved to Dublin, Ireland for several years, including 1966, the 50th anniversary of the Easter Revolution. He was educated at Amherst College, from which he graduated with honors in

medieval history In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...

in 1974. Murphy's first magazine job was in the paste-up department of ''Change'', a magazine devoted to higher education. He became an editor of ''

The Wilson Quarterly ''The Wilson Quarterly'' is a magazine published by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. The magazine was founded in 1976 by Peter Braestrup and James H. Billington. It is noted for its nonpartisan, non-ideol ...

'' in 1977. From the mid-1970s until 2004 he worked with his father,

, as writer for the comic strip ''

Prince Valiant ''Prince Valiant in the Days of King Arthur'', often simply called ''Prince Valiant'', is an American comic strip created by Hal Foster in 1937. It is an epic adventure that has told a continuous story during its entire history, and the full stretc ...

'', for which his father produced the artwork. He is also the author of ''The Word According to Eve: Women and the Bible in Ancient Times and Our Own'' (1999); ''Are We Rome?'' (2007), which compares the politics and culture of

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

with that of the contemporary United States; ''God's Jury: The Inquisition and the Making of the Modern World'' (2012); and ''Cartoon County: My Father and His Friends in the Golden Age of Make-Believe'' (2017), a history of the cartoonists and illustrators from the Connecticut School. He currently serves as editor at large for '' Vanity Fair'' and lives in Massachusetts. He is on the advisory board of the literary magazine The Common, based at Amherst College. He has three children: Jack, Anna, and Tim.

Publications

* * * * * * * * * *

References

External links

*
Murphy bio at TheAtlantic.com

Archive of stories by Murphy at TheAtlantic.comVideo of debate/discussion with Cullen Murphy
and

Rod Dreher Raymond Oliver Dreher Jr. (born February 14, 1967), known as Rod Dreher, is an American writer and editor living in Budapest, Hungary. He is a senior editor and blogger at ''The American Conservative'' and author of several books, including ''H ...

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 ...

* 1952 births Living people American comics writers American magazine editors American male journalists Amherst College alumni Writers from New Rochelle, New York The Atlantic (magazine) people Vanity Fair (magazine) people Writers from Connecticut Journalists from New York (state) {{US-comics-creator-stub