Evan Wright | |
|---|---|
 Wright in 2008 | |
| Born | (1964-12-12)December 12, 1964 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | July 12, 2024(2024-07-12) (aged 59) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Vassar College |
| Occupation | Writer |
| Notable work | Generation Kill,Hella Nation,American Desperado |
| Television | Generation Kill |
| Spouse | Shana "Kelli" Wright |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards | TwoNational Magazine Awards |
Evan Alan Wright (December 12, 1964 – July 12, 2024) was an American writer, known for his reporting on subcultures forRolling Stone andVanity Fair.[1] He was best known for his book on theIraq War,Generation Kill (2004). He also wrote an exposé about a topCentral Intelligence Agency officer who allegedly worked as aMafia hitman,How to Get Away with Murder in America (2012).[2]
Although some compare his writings to those ofHunter S. Thompson, Wright claimed his biggest literary influences were authorsMark Twain andChristopher Isherwood.[3]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]
Wright was born inCleveland, Ohio, on December 12, 1964,[5] and grew up inWilloughby, Ohio. Both of his parents were lawyers and he had a sister, Nora.[6] His father was a prosecutor, then the general counsel for a utility. Wright attendedHawken School,[7] but was expelled for sellingcannabis and sent to a home forjuvenile delinquents calledThe Seed.[3] He returned to Hawken and made state debate finals in high school. Wright studied atJohns Hopkins University and atVassar College; he graduated from Vassar with a degree in medieval history.[8] His first writing job was to interview South African political leaderMangosuthu Buthelezi, but it was for a small magazine that did not pay.[7]
Wright died by suicide via firearm at his home in Los Angeles on July 12, 2024, at the age of 59, reportedly due topost-traumatic stress disorder resulting from childhood abuse.[5][9][10][6]
In 1995, Wright became the entertainment editor and chiefpornographic film reviewer forHustler magazine. In 2000, he wrote about the experience and the issues surrounding the pornography industry in an article forSalon, titled "Maxed Out",[11] and for theLA Weekly, in a cover story titled "Scenes from My Life in Porn".[12]
Starting in 1996 atHustler, then atRolling Stone,Time, andVanity Fair, Wright wrote long features based on his immersion in subcultures ranging fromradical environmentalists toneo-Nazis. Many of his essays focused on crimes or controversial figures, and were said by him to capture a "dark, untamed America" that resembled "theWild West".[13] Several of his essays were collected in the bookHella Nation, which Wright called a "sort of autobiography".[3] His essays inHella Nation were compared toJoan Didion's writings on California.[14] Another reviewer calledHella Nation a "comically macabre portrait of American life".[15]
In 2002, Wright went to Afghanistan on assignment forRolling Stone.[8]
In 2003, he was embedded with the1st Reconnaissance Battalion of theUnited States Marine Corps during the early stages of the2003 invasion of Iraq.[16] Wright spent his entire time embedded in a recon team led by then-SergeantBrad Colbert. He was under fire with the Marines for several weeks, and accompanied them "on point" (i.e., in the lead vehicle). One of the Marines in the unit toldThe 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 forRolling Stone magazine titled "The Killer Elite" which, in 2004, received theNational Magazine Award for Reporting, the top prize in magazine writing. He then wroteGeneration Kill.[17]
In 2007, he returned to Iraq whenthe surge in U.S. forces was beginning. Wright interviewed GeneralDavid 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, includingSenate Majority LeaderHarry Reid, for calling the surge a failure before it had been fully implemented.[18]
HBO adaptedGeneration Kill into an eponymous televisionminiseries first aired in 2008; Wright is portrayed byLee Tergesen. Wright himself served as a writer and consulting producer on the project, collaborating closely with Emmy-winning producerDavid Simon.[19]
Wright was hired byParamount to write a script about Miami's "Cocaine Cowboys"Jon Roberts andMickey Munday forPeter Berg to direct. The screenplay was based on a book Wright wrote about Roberts, published by Crown Books.[20] ActorMark Wahlberg was producing the film with plans to star in it, but the film did not make it out of preproduction.[21][22]
In 2010, it was announced that directorOle Bornedal was filming a movie[23] inspired by an article Wright wrote forTime magazine called "Death of a Hostess".[24] Wright's article was a profile of Japanese serial-rapist and killerJoji Obara he wrote in Tokyo forTime magazine.[25]
In 2012, he released the bookAmerican Desperado,[2][26] co-written withJon Roberts, who was featured in the documentaryCocaine Cowboys.[27] In 2024, he appeared in the documentaryTeen Torture, Inc, during which he discussed his time atThe Seed, an earlytroubled teen industry program.[28]
At least six of the Marines Wright wrote about inGeneration Kill have claimed they were punished for the remarks he published. Spokesman Lieutenant Nathan Braden denied that any Marines were punished as a result of Wright's work.[8]
In 2004, Wright wrote an op-ed inThe New York Times criticizing the U.S. military for allowing insurgents in Iraq to obtain weapons.[29]
Wright criticized collegecreative writing programs, saying such programs produce bad writers.[3]
Wright was married to Shana "Kelli" Wright and they had two sons, Carter and Evan Jr. and a daughter, Kennedy.[30][31]
Wright's death was confirmed by his sister, Nora Wright, who told TheWrap that he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder from his teenage years and said, 'People need to talk about what's hurting them.'
The Seed, a reported memoir of brainwashing to be published in the Summer of 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)Eventually, he began seeing Kelli, whom he would marry. He once sent me this message: 'I can actually tell you I love this woman. And got closer to her than I have to anyone in 20 years.… She's kind of a joyous person in her way.' He also told me that for the first time in his life, he wanted to have children. 'I don't give a fuck about my own ambitions anymore,' he wrote. 'My distaste of children was the idea that they detracted from the zero sum game of what I want for myself.' Within three years, he and Kelli would have two sons and a daughter, and Evan would settle into domesticity. They remodeled their house. He kept his office in Santa Monica. It looked like a version of happiness.
