She has written four books: Useful Idiots: How Liberals Got it Wrong in the Cold War and Still Blame America First (2003), Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us) (2005), both New York Times bestsellers,[4][5] Sex Matters: How Modern Feminism Lost Touch with Science, Love, and Common Sense (2018), and Hard Right: The GOP's Drift Toward Extremism (2023).

A political conservative,[6] she often writes about foreign policy, terrorism, politics, poverty, her opposition to the 2-earner / 2-parent equal responsibility family structure, her notions of alleged "public morality" based in the Abrahamic legal fictions applying to married women and children, and culture.

[7] Charen was born in New York City and raised in Livingston, New Jersey, where she went to school with fellow journalist Ruth Marcus, starting "in fourth grade.

[12] Charen was a regular weekly commentator on CNN's The Capital Gang, which appeared on Saturdays.

Following an on-air heated exchange with fellow panelist Al Hunt,[13] the two of them did not appear on the same panel for several weeks.

Her comments, which elicited boos and jeers from the audience, included the following: I am disappointed in people on our side for being hypocrites about sexual harassers and abusers of women, who are in our party, who are sitting in the White House, who brag about their extramarital affairs, who brag about mistreating women—and because he happens to have an 'R' after his name we look the other way ...

This is a party that endorsed Roy Moore for the Senate in the state of Alabama even though he was a credibly accused child molester.

[16]Charen subsequently wrote a New York Times op-ed entitled "I'm Glad I Got Booed at CPAC".

[17] Charen is also currently Policy Editor of The Bulwark website and hosted the Beg to Differ podcast there.