Evan Wright

Evan Alan Wright (born 1966) is an American writer, known for his extensive reporting on subcultures for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, sometimes using his full name: Evan Alan Wright.^[2] He is best known for his book on the Iraq War, Generation Kill. In 2012 he wrote an expose about a top CIA officer who allegedly worked as a Mafia hitman, How to Get Away With Murder in America.^[3]

Though some compare his writings to those of Hunter S. Thompson, Wright claims his biggest literary influences were Mark Twain and British-American author Christopher Isherwood.^[1] The New York Times called his military writing "nuanced and grounded in details often overlooked in daily journalistic accounts" and noted his use of "gallows humor."^[4]

Biography

Wright was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Willoughby, Ohio. Both of his parents were lawyers. His father was a prosecutor, then the general counsel for a utility. Wright attended Hawken School,^[5] but was kicked out for selling marijuana and sent to a home for juvenile delinquents called The Seed.^[1] Wright studied at Johns Hopkins University and at Vassar College. He graduated from Vassar College with a degree in medieval history.^[6] His first writing job was to interview South African political leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, but it was for a small magazine that did not pay.^[5]

Hustler magazine

In 1995, he became the entertainment editor and chief pornographic film reviewer for Hustler magazine. In 2000, he wrote about the experience and the issues surrounding the pornography industry in an article for Salon titled "Maxed Out"^[7] and for the LA Weekly in a cover story titled "Scenes from My Life in Porn".^[8]

Immersion journalism

Starting in 1996 at Hustler, then at Rolling Stone, TIME, and Vanity Fair he wrote long features based on his immersion in subcultures ranging from radical environmentalists to neo-Nazis. Many of his essays focused on crimes or controversial figures and were said by him to capture a "dark, untamed America" that resembled "the Wild West."^[9] Several of his essays were collected in the book Hella Nation, which Wright called a "sort of autobiography".^[1] His essays in Hella Nation were compared to Joan Didion's writings on California.^[10] Another reviewer called Hella Nation a "comically macabre portrait of American life."^[11]

Military reporting

In 2002, Wright went to Afghanistan on assignment for Rolling Stone.^[6]

In 2003, he was embedded with the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion of the United States Marine Corps during the early stages of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.^[12] Wright spent his entire embed with a recon team led by Sergeant (at the time) Brad Colbert. He was under fire with the Marines for several weeks, and accompanied them "on point," or in the lead vehicle. One of the Marines in the unit told the New York Times, "He was in the worst possible place to have a reporter. During the first firefight, he took 10 rounds in his door."^[4] Wright expressed admiration for the Marines, but warned them that a reporter's motto is "charm and betray." He published a series of articles for Rolling Stone magazine titled The Killer Elite which, in 2004, received the National Magazine Award for Reporting, the top prize in magazine writing. He then wrote Generation Kill.^[13]

In 2007, he returned to Iraq when the surge in U.S. forces was beginning. Wright interviewed General Petraeus and spent several weeks embedded with U.S. troops in Baghdad, Ramadi and Diwania. He later criticized American television media for promoting misperceptions of the war. He also criticized some U.S. political leaders, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for calling the surge a failure before it had been fully implemented.^[14]

Television and film

Generation Kill was adapted into a television miniseries by the HBO network and first aired in 2008; Wright was portrayed by Lee Tergesen. Wright himself served as a writer and consulting producer on the project, collaborating closely with Emmy-winning producer David Simon.^[15]

Wright was hired by Paramount to write a script about Miami's "Cocaine Cowboys" Jon Roberts and Mickey Munday for Peter Berg to direct. The screenplay is based on a book Wright is writing about Roberts to be published by Crown Books.^[16] Actor Mark Wahlberg is producing the film and plans to star in it.^[17]

In 2010 it was announced that director Ole Bornedal was filming a movie^[18] inspired by an article Wright wrote for TIME magazine called "Death of a Hostess."^[19] Wright's article was a profile of Japanese serial-rapist and killer Joji Obara he wrote in Tokyo for TIME magazine.^[20]

In 2012 he released the book American Desperado,^[3][21] a book he co-wrote with Jon Roberts, who was featured in the documentary Cocaine Cowboys.^[22]

Controversies

• At least six of the Marines that Wright wrote about in Generation Kill claim they were punished for the remarks he published. Spokesman Lt. Nathan Braden categorically denies that any Marines were punished as a result of Wright’s work.^[6]
• Wright has criticized college creative writing programs for producing bad writers.^[1]
• Wright wrote an op-ed in the New York Times critical of the U.S. military for allowing Iraq's insurgents to obtain weapons.^[23]

Published works

• Generation Kill
• Hella Nation
• American Desperado
• The Best American Crime Writing: 2003 Edition: The Year's Best True Crime Reporting ("Mad Dogs & Lawyers")
• The Best American Magazine Writing: 2004 (Best Reporting)
• The Best American Magazine Writing: 2008 (Best Profile Writing)
• "How to Get Away with Murder in America" (2012)

Awards

• 2004 – Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War
• 2004 – National Magazine Award for Reporting, the top prize in magazine writing
• 2005 – J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize from the Columbia University School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation^[24]
• 2005 – PEN USA Literary Award in research nonfiction for Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War
• 2005 – General Wallace M. Greene, Jr., Award from the U.S. Marine Corps Heritage Society for writing the Best History of the Marine Corps^[25]
• 2008 – National Magazine Award for Profile Writing for his Vanity Fair profile titled "Pat Dollard's Hollywood"

References

External links

• Evan Wright's interview with the Columbia Journalism Review
• An Excerpt of Pat Dollard's Hollywood from The Best American Magazine Writing 2008
• Evan Wright on IMDb
• Evan Wright on Goodreads
• Appearances on C-SPAN