One of America's most accomplished and respected journalists, Michael Barone
was recently named a senior staff editor at Reader's Digest magazine. Barone,
co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, was formerly the On Politics
columnist for U.S. News & World Report magazine. His work has appeared in major
newspapers and political commentary magazines around the world.
Barone has viewed the American political spectacle from every angle and knows
how to spotlight the truth amid all the smoke and mirrors. For that reason, he
has also appeared as a popular guest analyst/commentator on various TV
programs, including The McLaughlin Group, Crossfire, Meet the Press, and This
Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts.
Barone was born in Highland Park, MI. He was brought up in Detroit and
Birmingham, MI. He graduated from Cranbrook School in 1962, Harvard College
(magna cum laude) in 1966 and Yale Law School in 1969, and was an editor of the
Harvard Crimson and the Yale Law Journal. He worked on numerous political
campaigns from 1964 to 1972 in Michigan and other states and was a summer
intern to Mayor Jerome P. Cavanagh of Detroit in 1967 and 1968. He served as
law clerk to Judge Wade H. McCree, Jr., of the United States Court of Appeals
for the Sixth Circuit from 1969 to 1971.
Barone is the principal co-author of The Almanac of American Politics, issued
every other year, beginning with the 1972 edition, which was nominated for a
National Book Award and Our Country: The Shaping of America From Roosevelt to
Reagan (Macmillan Free Press, 1990). He has published articles in publications
including the Harvard Crimson, Yale Law Journal, Washington Post, New York
Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Detroit Free Press,
Detroit News, New Republic, National Review, Economist, Readers's Digest,
Reason, American Spectator, Times Literary Supplement and the Italian
publication Libro Aperto. In 1992 he received the Carey McWilliams Award from
the American Political Science Association for "a major journalistic
contribution to our understanding of politics."
Barone has appeared as an analyst/commentator on various radio and television
programs including The McLaughlin Group, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, Good
Morning America, CBS News, NBC News, Cable News Network, C-SPAN, This Week with
David Brinkley, and Meet The Press.
