Washington Post futures editor Zachary Goldfarb and deputy futures editor Juliet Eilperin sent out the following:
We’re pleased to announce that Dana Milbank will return to the newsroom to anchor a new column in the Futures Department focused on a critical question of our time: How do we recover our humanity?
Dana’s is an important voice for Futures, which is devoted to helping our audience understand and act on the major forces and ideas transforming life in the 21st century. These forces — a rapidly changing media ecosystem, the rise of AI, shifts in the economy and work, climate change — can be a source of uncertainty and anxiety, even feeding a sense of isolation for some. Dana will be on the hunt for the antidotes, starting with what Thoreau called “the tonic of wildness” — our innate need to connect with nature, particularly as it faces so many man-made threats.
But he will go beyond nature and outdoor pursuits, exploring how we can reignite our imaginations and find sources of creativity across culture; rediscover our sense of awe and open our minds to spirituality and religion; deepen relationship with friends, family and community; and make our political dialogue more forward looking and constructive. As technology- and science-linked changes upend our world for good and for ill, Dana’s voice will work to ensure we don’t lose a sense of what makes for a good life.
This work grows out of Dana’s own journey. A longtime political columnist and urban dweller, he started writing columns three years ago about his misadventures in nature and his life on the run-down farm he and his wife had just bought in Rappahannock County, Va. The pieces generated a huge response from readers, and the experience transformed Dana personally.
In his 25 years at the Post, Dana has been a Style political writer, a White House correspondent and author of a highly popular column in Post Opinions. He is also the bestselling author of five books on politics and has been a contributor to CNN and MSNBC. Dana joined The Post at the beginning of the 2000 presidential campaign, then covered the White House during the George W. Bush administration. He won the White House Correspondent Association’s Beckman award for excellence in White House coverage.
Beginning in 2005, Dana pioneered the Washington Sketch, an irreverent, observational column about political Washington. In 2009, the late Fred Hiatt brought Dana to the op-ed page, where he continued his political commentary until, at David Shipley’s suggestion in 2022, he launched the “Milbank Bought the Farm” series.
Before joining the Post, Dana worked for The New Republic and Wall Street Journal. He is a 1990 graduate of Yale University, where he received his B.A. in political science.
Please congratulate Dana on his new column, which will launch later this summer.
