David Brooks

David Brooks is a writer for The Atlantic and the Presidential Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson School of Global Affairs. For 22 years he was a columnist at The New York Times. Before that he served as a senior editor at the Weekly Standard, a contributing editor at Newsweek, op-ed editor, foreign correspondent, movie critic and book review editor at the Wall Street Journal. He began his journalistic career as a police reporter for The City News Bureau of Chicago. 

Brooks is the author of 6 books: Bobos and Paradise, On Paradise Drive, The Social Animal, The Road to Character, The Second Mountain and How to Know a Person, five of which were New York Times bestsellers. 

He has been a commentator on the PBS’ “Newshour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered,” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He has also taught at Duke University and the University of Chicago. He has been awarded over 30 honorary doctorates by American colleges and universities and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The Atlantic

PBS NewsHour, "Brooks and Capehart"

Weave: The Social Fabric Project

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen, (Random House, 2023)

The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life, (Random House, 2020)

The Road to Character, (Random House, 2016)

The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement, (Random House, 2012)

On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense, (Simon & Schuster, 2004)

Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There, (Simon & Schuster, 2000)

“Democrats Became Great by Fighting the Left,” The Atlantic, July 8, 2026

 “The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age,” The Atlantic, June 28, 2026

 “Something Big Is Happening on Campus,” The Atlantic, May 17, 2026