Karl Zinsmeister is a prolific author, original researcher, and experienced executive with deep analytical, communications, public-policy, creative, and marketing skills. He has produced hundreds of publications, books, podcasts, and films. He has also been a high-level manager at a range of businesses, nonprofits, government agencies, and publications.
Zinsmeister has created two dozen books, including histories, reference works, embedded war reporting, political analysis, a novel, literary collections, academic volumes, a storytelling cookbook, two children's books, even a book-length Marvel comic book. Two of his works have been optioned for development into television series and documentary film. He has edited or co-produced many other books.
Zinsmeister has created two dozen books, including histories, reference works, embedded war reporting, political analysis, a novel, literary collections, academic volumes, a storytelling cookbook, two children's books, even a book-length Marvel comic book. Two of his works have been optioned for development into television series and documentary film. He has edited or co-produced many other books.
Zinsmeister's magazine and newspaper journalism totals several hundred articles. These have been published in a wide range of national periodicals, from cover stories for The Atlantic to essays in the Wall Street Journal, where he is a regular contributor. Karl also has more than two decades of experience as an Editor in Chief, managing writing, artistic, and business teams to produce nationally circulated magazines of thought and culture.
Drawing from his years as a U.S. President’s chief domestic policy adviser, Karl's latest book provides a brisk portrayal of work in the West Wing, and pungent lessons for the Trump Administration.
The story is told in three quite different and intertwined styles:
The story is told in three quite different and intertwined styles:
- There is the absorbing transcript of an intimate conversation in which two historians quiz the author about his experiences in Washington.
- A string of lucid documentary chapters chronicle events at the highest levels of U.S. government, dissecting problems, and assessing how occupants of the White House succeed or fail.
- A scathing short essay illustrates the federal establishment’s deep-seated resistance to reform—the stubborn refusal to deviate from business-as-usual that roused voters to unleash Donald Trump against sclerosis in our capital.
Zinsmeister's other 2025 book, Backbone, asks the timely question, "Is American populism something to fear, or something to welcome?"
Ranging across the country to talk with everyday people and observe their daily lives, he uncovers deep reservoirs of common sense, decency, and wisdom. Ordinary citizens, he concludes, will generally be much better and fairer arbiters of big national questions than any elite class of "experts." That judgment is backed with strong empirical evidence and trenchant arguments from history.
Our ruling caste has so seriously blundered in matters of economics, public health, foreign affairs, education, personal identity, cultural values, and Constitutional freedoms, Zinsmeister observes, that today's popular rebellion should be embraced as a necessary corrective to managerial coercion from above.
Ranging across the country to talk with everyday people and observe their daily lives, he uncovers deep reservoirs of common sense, decency, and wisdom. Ordinary citizens, he concludes, will generally be much better and fairer arbiters of big national questions than any elite class of "experts." That judgment is backed with strong empirical evidence and trenchant arguments from history.
Our ruling caste has so seriously blundered in matters of economics, public health, foreign affairs, education, personal identity, cultural values, and Constitutional freedoms, Zinsmeister observes, that today's popular rebellion should be embraced as a necessary corrective to managerial coercion from above.
Zinsmeister's recent historical novel The Brothers is about three fascinating real-life siblings who transformed the abolition of slavery from a fringe campaign into a mass popular enthusiasm. In a period of grave social disorder and government gridlock they used private giving and cultural campaigning to change hearts and minds and solve some of the nation's most wrenching social ills. In addition to their contributions toward ending slavery, these men accomplished many other remarkable things in politics, commerce, religion, philanthropy, and science.
This imaginative re-creation brings to life the amazing tumult of Jacksonian America—our nation's adolescence, when great promise and great danger existed in equal proportions. The brothers played many crucial roles in nudging their society away from perils and into prosperity. These three characters, though nearly lost from modern memory, are some of the most important culture-shapers in U.S. history, Zinsmeister shows. Their astonishing lives offer many lessons for contemporary Americans.
This imaginative re-creation brings to life the amazing tumult of Jacksonian America—our nation's adolescence, when great promise and great danger existed in equal proportions. The brothers played many crucial roles in nudging their society away from perils and into prosperity. These three characters, though nearly lost from modern memory, are some of the most important culture-shapers in U.S. history, Zinsmeister shows. Their astonishing lives offer many lessons for contemporary Americans.
Zinsmeister is a national expert on philanthropy, social reform, and culture change through the voluntary actions of civil society. He has advised major business figures and wealth creators, and designed acclaimed educational, health, and community-reinforcement projects. His creations include a pathbreaking preschool, one of the first high-achieving charter schools ever located in a rural poverty area, a landmark disability program for injured veterans, family-building measures, and more.
He created The Almanac of American Philanthropy—the authoritative 1,342-page reference on private giving that is often referred to as “the bible” documenting America's distinctive tradition of solving major public problems through voluntary action. Between cash contributions and donated labor, philanthropy is a trillion-dollar annual undertaking in the U.S., and one of our country's most potent sources of social innovation and improvement.
He also created the “Sweet Charity” podcast presenting 5-10 minute stories on important achievements in philanthropic creativity. He wrote and edited a series of “Wise Giver's Guides” offering donors practical help in specific fields. The volumes he authored himself include one analyzing charter schools, and another on the relationship between philanthropy and public policy.
He created The Almanac of American Philanthropy—the authoritative 1,342-page reference on private giving that is often referred to as “the bible” documenting America's distinctive tradition of solving major public problems through voluntary action. Between cash contributions and donated labor, philanthropy is a trillion-dollar annual undertaking in the U.S., and one of our country's most potent sources of social innovation and improvement.
He also created the “Sweet Charity” podcast presenting 5-10 minute stories on important achievements in philanthropic creativity. He wrote and edited a series of “Wise Giver's Guides” offering donors practical help in specific fields. The volumes he authored himself include one analyzing charter schools, and another on the relationship between philanthropy and public policy.
From 2006 to 2009 Zinsmeister served in the West Wing as President George W. Bush’s Chief Domestic Policy Adviser. His responsibilities stretched across many issues: the formulation of new immigration policies, the mortgage and student-loan credit crises, stem-cell and biotechnology innovation, improving care for military veterans, school reform, issues in health, transportation, environmental quality, and national competitiveness.
Earlier in his career Karl was a U.S. Senate aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He has been an adviser to many public policy groups, and has testified before Congressional committees and Presidential commissions on topics including family issues, economic policy, and the Iraq war.
For more than a decade, Zinsmeister occupied the J. B. Fuqua Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, a premier Washington, D.C. think tank, where he researched economic, demographic, and cultural topics. While there he created an acclaimed national monthly magazine of politics, business, and culture, The American Enterprise. Author and former Cabinet Secretary William Bennett called it “one of America’s finest magazines.... intellectually interesting, well-written, lively, wide-ranging, and above all useful.” Zinsmeister wrote nearly 300 articles for that publication, and conducted interviews with public figures extending from Pat Moynihan to Rudy Giuliani, Andres Duany to Rupert Murdoch.
Earlier in his career Karl was a U.S. Senate aide to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. He has been an adviser to many public policy groups, and has testified before Congressional committees and Presidential commissions on topics including family issues, economic policy, and the Iraq war.
For more than a decade, Zinsmeister occupied the J. B. Fuqua Chair at the American Enterprise Institute, a premier Washington, D.C. think tank, where he researched economic, demographic, and cultural topics. While there he created an acclaimed national monthly magazine of politics, business, and culture, The American Enterprise. Author and former Cabinet Secretary William Bennett called it “one of America’s finest magazines.... intellectually interesting, well-written, lively, wide-ranging, and above all useful.” Zinsmeister wrote nearly 300 articles for that publication, and conducted interviews with public figures extending from Pat Moynihan to Rudy Giuliani, Andres Duany to Rupert Murdoch.
In concert with his wife, Zinsmeister conceived and produced a feature documentary film entitled Warriors that aired nationally on PBS. In a major international competition, the film won $450,000 of funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It presented personal profiles of America’s fighting forces via on-the-scene footage that Zinsmeister and two combat cameramen shot in Iraq. The New York Times described Warriors as “entirely compelling.” Footage from the film was used as a plot item in the final week of the HBO television series The Sopranos.
In the private sector, Zinsmeister was an executive in his native region of upstate New York at the Stickley company—an historic firm that designs, manufactures, and markets iconic American Arts & Crafts furniture designs worldwide. His responsibilities included marketing and sales, advertising, catalogs, photography, websites, communications, the Stickley Museum, some product design, and the modernization of many business and data systems. Zinsmeister has also operated his own businesses over a period of years, including designing, financing, renovating, and building properties with historic appeal in Washington and New York.
A graduate of Yale University, Zinsmeister did further studies at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. During college he won national rowing championships in both the U.S. and Ireland. He has given hundreds of public lectures, originated a weekly radio commentary syndicated to 100 stations, and appeared often on a wide variety of national television and radio programs. He has lived, worked, or traveled in 40 countries, and nearly every U.S. state. He has held the highest U.S. security clearance.
Zinsmeister is married and has three grown children. He is an active outdoorsman, swims, hikes, boats, and bikes every week, enjoys tandem trail riding, and has taken many extended wilderness backpacking trips. He has built eight houses and one houseboat, and been an avid woodworker, forester, gardener, and keeper of hens. His hobbies include collecting fossils, minerals, coral, and insects, and photography, and he has taught Sunday school and sung in church choirs. He currently lives in a homestead he built in the Adirondack mountains of New York, and on a boat in the Sea Islands of South Carolina.
In the private sector, Zinsmeister was an executive in his native region of upstate New York at the Stickley company—an historic firm that designs, manufactures, and markets iconic American Arts & Crafts furniture designs worldwide. His responsibilities included marketing and sales, advertising, catalogs, photography, websites, communications, the Stickley Museum, some product design, and the modernization of many business and data systems. Zinsmeister has also operated his own businesses over a period of years, including designing, financing, renovating, and building properties with historic appeal in Washington and New York.
A graduate of Yale University, Zinsmeister did further studies at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland. During college he won national rowing championships in both the U.S. and Ireland. He has given hundreds of public lectures, originated a weekly radio commentary syndicated to 100 stations, and appeared often on a wide variety of national television and radio programs. He has lived, worked, or traveled in 40 countries, and nearly every U.S. state. He has held the highest U.S. security clearance.
Zinsmeister is married and has three grown children. He is an active outdoorsman, swims, hikes, boats, and bikes every week, enjoys tandem trail riding, and has taken many extended wilderness backpacking trips. He has built eight houses and one houseboat, and been an avid woodworker, forester, gardener, and keeper of hens. His hobbies include collecting fossils, minerals, coral, and insects, and photography, and he has taught Sunday school and sung in church choirs. He currently lives in a homestead he built in the Adirondack mountains of New York, and on a boat in the Sea Islands of South Carolina.
