Biography
Nathan J. Robinson was born in Stevenage, England, in 1989 and moved with his family to Sarasota, Florida, at age five. He holds a BA and MA in politics from Brandeis University, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in sociology and social policy from Harvard, though he took a leave from his doctoral program to found the magazine that's defined his career since.
In 2015, Robinson launched Current Affairs with co-founder Oren Nimni after a Kickstarter campaign raised $16,000. The bimonthly magazine of politics and culture, produced from Robinson's home base of New Orleans, built its identity on long-form, sharply argued left-wing essays paired with distinctive illustration and design — deliberately positioning itself as a print-first alternative to the disposable pace of online media.
Robinson has written for The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Nation, and Al Jazeera, and appears regularly as a commentator on NPR, BBC Radio, and Democracy Now! He's the author or editor of ten books, including Why You Should Be a Socialist and, with Noam Chomsky, 2024's The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World.
Beyond the magazine, Robinson co-hosts the Current Affairs podcast alongside Oren Nimni, Pete Davis, and Briahna Joy Gray, mixing interviews with progressive figures and sharp media criticism.
Current Affairs
Current Affairs is funded entirely through subscriptions and donations, with no advertising and no corporate underwriting. In August 2025, the magazine marked its tenth anniversary with a party in New Orleans, where Robinson reflected on a decade spent building an independent, print-first alternative to a media landscape he argues is dominated by short-form, ad-driven content.
The magazine covers electoral politics, foreign policy, labor, and culture, and in 2026 has closely tracked the wave of Bernie-aligned primary challengers reshaping the Democratic Party — including early, sustained coverage of Dr. Abdul El-Sayed's Michigan Senate campaign dating back to 2018.
Videos
Current Affairs 10th Anniversary — remarks from New Orleans
On "The Myth of American Idealism," co-authored with Noam Chomsky
"People Over Profits" — on socialism, with Briahna Joy Gray
Interview with Nathan J. Robinson of Current Affairs Magazine
In the press
- Wikipedia
- Foreign Policy
- Wikipedia
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Current Affairs
Read the magazine bimonthly