Jonathan Rauch is a guest scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington and is the author of six books and many articles on public policy, culture, and government. He is a contributing editor of National Journal and The Atlantic and recipient of the 2005 National Magazine Award, the magazine industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.

In 2013, he published Denial: My 25 Years Without a Soul, a memoir of his struggle with his sexuality, brought out as an e-book from The Atlantic Books. His previous book was Gay Marriage: Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America, published in 2004 by Times Books. Although much of his writing has been on public policy, he has also written on topics as widely varied as adultery, agriculture, economics, gay marriage, height discrimination, biological rhythms, number inflation, and animal rights.

Rauch's multiple-award-winning column “Social Studies,” appeared from 1998 to 2010 in the National Journal. Among the many other publications for which he has written are The New Republic, The Economist, Reason, Harper’s, Fortune, Reader’s Digest, US News and World Report, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, Slate, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Public Interest, The Advocate, The Daily, and others.

In addition to the National Magazine Award, his honours include the 2010 National Headliner Award, one of the industry’s most venerable prizes, the 2011 Premio Napoli alla Stampa Estera, the 2011 National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association prize for excellence in opinion writing. and two second-place prizes (2000 and 2001) in the National Headliner Awards.

Rauch was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and graduated in 1982 from Yale University.