Ross Gregory Douthat[a] (born November 28, 1979) is an American political analyst, blogger, author and New York Times columnist.[3] He was a senior editor of The Atlantic. He has written on a variety of topics, including the state of Christianity in America and "sustainable decadence" in contemporary society.
His mother is a writer.[9] His great-grandfather was the poet and Governor Charles Wilbert Snow of Connecticut.[10] His father, Charles Douthat, is a partner in a New Haven law firm[11][12] and a poet.[citation needed]
Douthat is a regular columnist for The New York Times.[14] In April 2009, he became the youngest regular op-ed writer in The New York Times after replacing Bill Kristol as a conservative voice on the Times editorial page.[15][16]
Before joining The New York Times, he was a senior editor at The Atlantic.[17] He has published books on the decline of religion in American society, the role of Harvard University in creating an American ruling class and other topics related to religion, politics and society. His book Grand New Party (2008), which he co-wrote with Reihan Salam, was described by New York Times commentator David Brooks as the "best single roadmap of where the Republican Party should and is likely to head."[18] Douthat's The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success (2020) received positive reviews in The New York Times[19] and National Review.[20] Douthat frequently appeared on the video debate site Bloggingheads.tv until 2012.
Douthat has written in support of banning abortion, arguing that science shows that a zygote (a fertilized egg) is a distinct human and that to destroy one is to kill a human.[21]
Personal life
In 2007, Douthat married Abigail Tucker, a reporter for The Baltimore Sun.[11] He and his family live in New Haven, Connecticut.[22]
Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class. New York: Hyperion. 2005. ISBN978-1-4013-0112-5.
Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save the American Dream. With Salam, Reihan. New York: Doubleday. 2008. ISBN978-0-385-51943-4.
Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. New York: Free Press. 2012. ISBN978-1-4391-7830-0.
To Change the Church: Pope Francis and the Future of Catholicism. New York: Simon and Schuster. 2018. ISBN978-1-5011-4694-7.
The Decadent Society: How We Became the Victims of Our Own Success. Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster, 2020. (The paperback edition, issued in 2021, is titled: The Decadent Society: America Before and After the Pandemic.) ISBN978-1476785240
The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness and Discovery. Convergent Books. October 26, 2021. ISBN0-59-323736-6
^Sheelah Kolhatkar (March 6, 2005). "A Pisher's Privilege". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved March 30, 2009.
^George Packer (May 26, 2008). "The Fall of Conservatism". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on December 19, 2008. Retrieved March 25, 2009.
^Shah, Huma N. (March 13, 2009). "Crimson Alum Replaces Kristol". The Harvard Crimson. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
^Calderone, Michael (March 31, 2009). "Douthat enters new Times zone". Politico. politico.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved October 20, 2009.
