Steve Coll

Steve Coll is an author and journalist whose works encompass a range of topics, from the American experience in Afghanistan to the inner workings of the oil industry. He has twice won the Pulitzer Prize—once for explanatory reporting and once for his book Ghost Wars—and has received numerous other awards and honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship and the New York Public Library’s Helen Bernstein Book Award.

Coll’s writing roots began in high school when he was an intern at The Washington Post. After college, he returned to the paper, where he worked for nineteen years before moving to The New Yorker, where he has served as the staff writer and editor. Coll’s articles have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Washington Monthly, among many other outlets.

In total, Coll has written nine books. The first, On the Grand Trunk Road: The Story of a Journey Through India, was published in 1994, and follows the author on a cross-country journey from the Great Rann of Kutch to the Bay of Bengal.

His second book, Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001, was published in 2004, and details the years leading up to 9/11. It won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and was adapted into an eight-part mini-series by Showtime.

Coll's other books include Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power (2012), which examines the oil-giant's influence over American foreign and domestic policy; Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America’s Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan (2018), which recounts the American experience in the region; and the recently published The Americans: A Biography of the Most Powerful Nation on Earth (2020).

In addition to his journalistic work, Coll has taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism for almost two decades. He currently serves as Dean of the school, and in 2011 founded the Robert L. Bartley Fellowship, a program that selects one journalist each year to research issues related to freedom of the press. Coll also sits on the board of the Pulitzer Prize Board and the American Council on Education.

With more than 25 years of experience in journalism, Steve Coll is well-known for producing insightful and thought-provoking works of non-fiction. His career as an acclaimed journalist, author, and professor gives him unique insight into the inner workings of organizations and cultural institutions. His books provide detailed accounts of the inner workings of some of the most powerful companies and nations in the world and together make for an invaluable review into some of the most pressing issues of the day.