# Michael Lind

> Michael Lind is an American writer, columnist, and professor who has spent three decades refusing to sit in either political team's section. A fifth-generation Texan who began on the right at the Heritage Foundation and migrated toward New Deal economic nationalism, he co-founded the New America Foundation in 1999, wrote for The New Yorker, Harper's and The New Republic, and now teaches at the LBJ School at UT Austin while writing a column for Tablet. He is the author of more than a dozen books, including The New Class War, Land of Promise and Hell to Pay, all of them circling one question: who actually runs the country, and what do they owe the people who don't.

- **Role:** Professor of Practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin
- **Organizations:** University of Texas at Austin (LBJ School of Public Affairs), Tablet Magazine, New America (co-founder and fellow), The Breakthrough Institute
- **From:** Austin, Texas, USA
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** BA, University of Texas at Austin (Plan II Liberal Arts Honors), MA, International Relations, Yale University, JD, University of Texas School of Law
- **Known for:** Author of more than a dozen books on American political and economic history, foreign policy, and culture, Co-founded the New America Foundation in 1999, now one of Washington's most influential think tanks, Held senior editorial roles at Harper's, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The National Interest

## Career timeline

- **1988** — Worked on the Heritage Foundation's State Department Assessment Project
- **1991** — Became Executive Editor of The National Interest
- **1994** — Editor at Harper's Magazine
- **1995** — Senior Editor at The New Republic; published The Next American Nation
- **1996** — Staff Writer at The New Yorker; published Up From Conservatism
- **1999** — Co-founded the New America Foundation with Ted Halstead, Sherle Schwenninger, and Walter Russell Mead
- **2005** — Published What Lincoln Believed
- **2012** — Published Land of Promise: An Economic History of the United States
- **2017** — Joined the faculty of the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin
- **2020** — Published The New Class War: Saving Democracy From the Managerial Elite
- **2023** — Published Hell to Pay: How the Suppression of Wages Is Destroying America

## Achievements

- Author of more than a dozen books on American political and economic history, foreign policy, and culture
- Co-founded the New America Foundation in 1999, now one of Washington's most influential think tanks
- Held senior editorial roles at Harper's, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The National Interest
- Coined and popularized the framing of the 'managerial overclass' versus the working class in The New Class War
- Taught at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, Virginia Tech, and the University of Texas at Austin

## Latest updates

- **2023-04** — Published Hell to Pay: How the Suppression of Wages Is Destroying America and toured podcasts including The Realignment and Pitchfork Economics.
- **2025-01** — Continues to write his regular column for Tablet Magazine and teach at the LBJ School of Public Affairs.

## Links

- Twitter/X: https://x.com/michaellind

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/michael-lind
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-02