Author | Journalist

Welcome to my website, where I detail all of my accomplishments and none of my failings. To get a sense of the latter, you can read my latest book, Life Reimagined: The Science, Art, and Opportunity of Midlife, which was published by Riverhead Books in March 2016. The book sprung from my own midlife crisis (or so I thought), and chronicles my deep and often inelegant dive into the research to discover how to thrive at midlife. My previous book, Fingerprints of God: The Search for the Science of Spirituality, was also borne of a crisis – this one, a spiritual crisis. Fingerprints, which Riverhead published in 2009, was my attempt to answer the questions: Is there more than this? – and, even more ambitiously: Is there any evidence of God?

Aside from these forays into book writing, most of my career has been spent in journalism: nearly 20 years at National Public Radio, and before that, more than a decade at The Christian Science Monitor.

I hope you take a moment to browse. There is a longer biography, and descriptions of my books, as well as excerpts. Recently, I dived into the criminal justice system to explore a hard truth: sometimes, the legal system prefers naming someone guilty over figuring out who really is. You can find my series for Radio Atlantic, "No Way Out," here. 

Questions? Contact me here.

A dynamic and inspiring exploration of the new science that is redrawing the future for people in their forties, fifties, and sixties for the better—and for good.

There’s no such thing as an inevitable midlife crisis, Barbara Bradley Hagerty writes in this provocative, hopeful book. It’s a myth, an illusion. New scientific research explodes the fable that midlife is a time when things start to go downhill for everybody. In fact, midlife can be a great new adventure, when you can embrace fresh possibilities, purposes, and pleasures. In Life Reimagined, Hagerty explains that midlife is about renewal: It’s the time to renegotiate your purpose, refocus your relationships, and transform the way you think about the world and yourself. Drawing from emerging information in neurology, psychology, biology, genetics, and sociology—as well as her own story of midlife transformation—Hagerty redraws the map for people in midlife and plots a new course forward in understanding our health, our relationships, even our futures.