Brian Doherty (journalist)

Brian Doherty
Doherty playing electric bass in 2015
Born(1968-06-01)June 1, 1968
New York City, U.S.
Diedc. March 12, 2026(2026-03-12) (aged 57)
near Sausalito, California, U.S.
Alma materUniversity of Florida (BA)
Occupations
  • Author
  • editor
Writing career
SubjectLibertarianism in the United States

Brian Michael Doherty (June 1, 1968 – c. March 12, 2026)[1] was an American journalist and author. He was a senior editor at Reason magazine.[2]

Background

Brian Michael Doherty was born in Queens, New York, on June 1, 1968, and grew up in Florida. He studied journalism at the University of Florida.[1]

Career

Doherty was the author of This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground (Little, Brown, 2004), Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement (PublicAffairs, 2007), Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (Cato Institute, 2008), Ron Paul's Revolution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired (Broadside Books, 2012), Dirty Pictures: How an Underground Network of Nerds, Feminists, Misfits, Geniuses, Bikers, Potheads, Printers, Intellectuals, and Art School Rebels Revolutionized Art and Invented Comix (Harry N. Abrams, 2022), and Modern Libertarianism: A Brief History of Classical Liberalism in the United States (Libertarianism.org, 2025).

He wrote articles published in dozens of newspapers and magazines, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Mother Jones, Spin, National Review, the Weekly Standard, and the San Francisco Chronicle.[3]

Before working for the Cato Institute in the early 1990s, Doherty served as an intern at Liberty magazine and wrote on music and popular culture at The Independent Florida Alligator. As a student at the University of Florida, where he received a degree in journalism,[3] Doherty played bass in several punk rock bands, including The Jeffersons and Turbo Satan. He founded Cherry Smash Records in 1993.

Doherty said that he was a "principled nonvoter" who had "been saved the embarrassment of ever having to feel any sense of responsibility, of even the smallest size, for the actions of any politician."[4]

Personal life and death

Doherty was in a long-term relationship with Angela Keaton until they separated in 2012.[1] He was then in a relationship with Meghan Ralston until 2018.[1] He lived in Cathedral City, California.[1]

On March 12, 2026, Doherty fell from a scenic overlook while walking at the Golden Gate National Recreation Area near Sausalito, California; his body was discovered the next day.[1][2][5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Gabriel, Trip (March 23, 2026). "Brian Doherty, 57, Dies; Chronicled Libertarians and Other Outsiders". The New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Welch, Matt (March 14, 2026). "Brian Doherty, Historian of the Libertarian Movement, Dead at 57". Reason. Retrieved March 15, 2026.
  3. 1 2 "Staff: Brian Doherty, Senior Editor". Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Who's Getting Your Vote?". Reason. November 2004. Archived from the original on October 29, 2008. Retrieved October 27, 2008.
  5. ↑ Vaziri, Aidin (March 16, 2026). "Journalist and libertarian historian dies after fall near San Francisco Bay". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 18, 2026. Doherty was found dead Friday morning at Battery Yates, a historic military site in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area near Sausalito, according to Reason.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.