Joseph Bottum

Joseph Bottum is an American author, best known for his writings about literature, American religion, and neoconservative politics.

Born in Vermillion, South Dakota, Bottum was brought up in the state capital of Pierre and later Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School. After graduating with a B.A. from Georgetown University and a Ph.D. from Boston College, Bottum was Assistant Professor of Medieval Philosophy at Loyola University Maryland from 1993 to 1994, before joining the journal First Things in New York City as Associate Editor from 1995 to 1997.

He moved to Washington, D.C., in 1997, hired by William Kristol to be Literary Editor of the neoconservative political magazine, the Weekly Standard. In 2004, the founder of First Things, Richard John Neuhaus, brought him back to New York as the new Editor.

Bottum lives in his family’s summer house in the Black Hills of South Dakota.