Just over a year ago today, The Free Press hit a milestone that was once unthinkable: We reached one million subscribers.
Today we reached a new milestone: two million Free Pressers.
And to celebrate this achievement—and exciting new offerings for subscribers—we are kicking off 2026 with a special 20 percent discount.
So what should you expect in 2026? More. More topics covered and questions answered. More podcasts. More livestreams. More events. And yes, more TGIF socks.
Most important of all, expect new writers, reporters, editors, and producers who will bring you stories and understanding you simply can’t get anywhere else. We’re so excited to introduce:
Will GLP-1s make us happier? How does artificial intelligence change our understanding of love? Has the modern world warped our understanding of meaning, purpose, and joy?
Six years ago, there were whispers out of Harvard University of a new thinker and writer tackling these questions—and who was redefining the understanding of happiness for millions of people. Getting happier isn’t something that happens to a person, argued Arthur Brooks. It’s something we have control over. It’s something we make. And he had the science to prove it.
Brooks is the best-selling author of From Strength to Strength and Build the Life You Want (with Oprah Winfrey), along with 13 other books. He’s a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School and Business School, where his happiness classes are massively oversubscribed.
And now, he is a twice-weekly contributor at The Free Press.
Every Monday, Arthur will write on questions of meaning and happiness in our digital age. On Fridays, he’ll dive even further into the practices we need to combat the happiness crisis—going just a little bit deeper than the quick remedies offered by hot yoga and happy lamps.
His first column will land in your inbox in a few hours. Everyone will be able to read this week’s version—and after that it will be available only to paid subscribers. Be sure to catch Arthur’s “Happiness Lessons from a Miserable Wretch.” Your life will be better for it.
Some of our most treasured Free Press writers are now doing even more for our subscribers:
You know her, you love her, and we’re so glad to say there’s a whole lot more coming from her this year.
Since 2021, senior Manhattan Institute fellow Abigail Shrier has been a contributing writer to The Free Press, covering education, gender, and parenting relentlessly and fearlessly. Her investigative journalism has changed the culture—from her work exposing the truth about gender-affirming care to the anti-Israel ideology permeating our public schools.
Those who are lucky enough to call Abigail a friend know that she gives the best advice—the kind that makes you better and braver. And since we don’t yet have the technology to clone her, we had to settle for the next best thing: making her our official Free Press advice columnist.
Now, every Thursday afternoon, Abigail Shrier’s new column, Tough Love, offers our subscribers the chance to have their thorniest questions answered. Only four columns in and she already has a cult following.
Make sure to never miss a Tough Love by subscribing here.
Niall is beloved by readers for his sharp coverage of international and domestic politics, with sense-making pieces on Trump’s revival, the reign of Argentine president Javier Milei, and the global fights the U.S. cannot afford to lose. We’re thrilled to announce that Niall is now making The Free Press the exclusive home for his writing.
Ferguson is the Milbank Family Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, a senior faculty fellow of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard, and a co-founding trustee of the new University of Austin. He is the author of more than 20 books, most recently Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe.
You know Coleman as a first-principles thinker and interpreter of the modern world. He’s found a fast-growing audience for his Free Press podcast Conversations with Coleman. The good news for subscribers is that Coleman will now be contributing regular columns, focusing on explaining American culture, politics, and applied ethics. You can receive his columns directly by signing up for his author alerts here.
Joining our ranks as Free Press contributors in 2026:
Rod Dreher is known in our pages for his work on religion, culture, Europe, and the state of totalitarianism past and present. Many will remember his enormously important essay predicting the radical right’s poisoning of young men. Rod was previously at the New York Post, The Dallas Morning News, and National Review, and he is the author of many culture-shaping books, including New York Times bestsellers The Benedict Option: A Strategy for Christians in a Post-Christian Nation (2017) and Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents (2020). He lives in Budapest, where he is a senior fellow at the Danube Institute. He’ll write for us twice a month.
Patrick McGee has spent over a decade at the Financial Times, where his years as a San Francisco correspondent covering Apple and U.S. technology led him to write the New York Times bestseller Apple in China: The Capture of the World’s Greatest Company. He has investigated German industry from Frankfurt, Asian markets in Hong Kong, and bonds with The Wall Street Journal in New York. Listen to him on Honestly here—and expect to read him in our pages every other week.
Elliot Ackerman is a U.S. Marine Corps vet, former CIA special operations officer, and New York Times best-selling author. He is best known by our readers for his weekly column on the things A Man Should Know, and for his insights into modern war and all things gentlemanly. He joins The Free Press as a contributing writer.
We’re also thrilled to welcome new editors and leaders to our newsroom:
Mark Gimein joins our team as business and tech editor. He was previously at The Week, where he was managing editor for seven years and oversaw all coverage of business, technology, and the economy. He has been covering business for more than two decades, including at Fortune, Bloomberg, and New York magazine. In 1999, he wrote the first-ever profile of Elon Musk. Many of you have asked for more coverage of business and technology from The Free Press perspective, and you’ll see more of it from Mark and others.
Mene Ukueberuwa joins The Free Press as politics editor, leading coverage of domestic political stories. He was previously a member of the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, covering national and state politics and public policy. He has also been an editor at City Journal and The New Criterion.
Dana Schuster is our newest features editor at The Free Press. She was most recently the features editor at Business Insider, where she developed investigative reports, including one that was developed into an HBO Max documentary. Previously, Dana worked at the New York Post as a senior features writer.
Josh Kaplan joins The Free Press as our London-based digital editor. Josh was most recently the head of digital at The Jewish Chronicle and has previously led social and digital teams at GB News and The Telegraph, where he was nominated for an award for his coverage of the 2019 UK election. Josh has previously covered U.S. politics, reporting on the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections for United Kingdom audiences.
Jack Nicoletti is a filmmaker, social producer, and musician joining The Free Press as a social first video editor. He is an award-winning film producer, and has developed video content for brands such as Atoms, MKBHD, and JEZ. He will help us continue to bring visual, conversation-driving content to our 1.7 million followers across multiple social platforms.
On the business side of The Free Press, we welcome Alisha Hathaway as our first chief revenue officer, working with sponsors who understand The Free Press represents a singular voice in today’s fragmented world. Alisha has been essential in helping build “Things That Matter,” a series of town halls and debates co-produced with CBS News, and she has built our internal sponsorship team. Alisha was formerly the vice president of executive conferences and integrated media at both CNBC and The Wall Street Journal.
P.S.: 1,999,999, to be honest.
Live Free or Die, Bari
More production of checkout lane pap. Great. I subscribed, then two weeks later asked for my money back as I had read too much outright leftist lying, disinformation, and gross distortions. Bari said no, too bad. I'm here for the rest of my term, then hopefully can find something intellectually stimulating that will truthfully present both sides.
The story that made my mind up was a description by an author of antifa as "a loosely organized group of antifascists." Right. They are Hitler Youth, no more, no less, and better organized than the mafia.
Live Free or Die.