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December 4, 2008
Robert Bidinotto
Former editor of The
New Individualist, the magazine of The
Atlas Society
in a lively conversation:
After 2008, Does
Individualism Have a Future?
"Who is Robert
Bidinotto?" "I'm an award-winning author, editor, and lecturer. Most recently, I was editor-in-chief of The
New Individualist, a Washington-based monthly magazine of politics and culture. In 2007, I received the magazine industry's top honor for editorial excellence—the
Folio gold 'Eddie' Award—for my cover feature in the March 2007 issue, which examined factionalism in the conservative movement. "While writing high-profile investigative pieces as a former Staff Writer for
Reader's Digest, I earned an international reputation as an authority on criminal justice and environmentalism. Perhaps most famous was my article
'Getting Away with Murder' in the July 1988 Reader's
Digest. That investigative piece stirred a national controversy about crime and prison furlough programs during the 1988 presidential campaign, and it is widely credited with having affected the outcome of the election. In 1989, the article was honored by the American Society of Magazine Editors as one of five finalists for the National Magazine Award for
'Best Magazine Article of the Year in the Public Interest Category.' "In 1995, I authored
Criminal Justice? The Legal System vs. Individual
Responsibility. With a foreword by John Walsh of the 'America's Most Wanted' television show, my book garnered recognition from legal scholars, victims-rights groups, and law enforcement professionals. Two years later, I wrote Freed to Kill, a compendium of horror stories exposing the failings of the justice system. "My many writings on environmental issues include investigative articles for
Reader's Digest on global warming and the 1989 Alar scare. My exposé of India's
'industrial policy' as the cause of the Bhopal chemical disaster was reprinted in
The Wall Street Journal, and my Alar article was singled out for editorial praise by
Barron's. I also authored a highly acclaimed monograph that critically examined the environmentalist philosophy and movement. I maintain a website on the topic of
environmentalism, as well as a popular
blog, where I comment on the issues of the day. "My hundreds of articles, essays, columns, editorials, book and film reviews also have appeared in the
Washington Times, the Boston Herald, Success,
The American Spectator, City Journal, Reason,
Writer's Digest, and many more publications. I was honored with the Free Press Association's prestigious Mencken Award in 1985 for
'Best Feature Story,' and I've received recognitions from the National Victim Center and other victim-rights organizations for my outspoken public advocacy on behalf of crime victims. "I'm a frequent public speaker, and I've appeared as a guest on scores of broadcast talk programs including
'The Rush Limbaugh Show,' CBS radio's 'Crosstalk,' CNN's 'Sonya Live,'
'Geraldo,' Air America's 'Thom Hartmann Show,' 'The Bob Grant Show,' CNBC’s
'Rivera Live,' and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
"With my wife and our stridently individualistic cat, Luna, I make my home on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. In addition to my writing and editorial consulting work, I'm writing my first novel—a political thriller."
Bidinotto last
spoke at Junto in November 2006.
For
more information on this Junto event, including time,
location, and other features of the meeting see the December
Junto page.
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