Steve Coll
Coll in 2012
Born	(1958-10-08)October 8, 1958 (age 67) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Journalist, author, business executive
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Occidental College (BA) University of Sussex
Genre	Journalism
Notable works	Ghost Wars;The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (2008)
Notable awards	Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting (1990);Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction (2005)
Spouse	Eliza Griswold
Children	4
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Steve Coll (born October 8, 1958) is an Americanjournalist,historian, academic, and executive.

He was dean of theColumbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where he also served as theHenry R. Luce Professor of Journalism until 2022. A staff writer forThe New Yorker, he served as the president and CEO of theNew America think tank from 2007 to 2012.

He is the recipient of twoPulitzer Prize awards, twoOverseas Press Club Awards, aPEN American CenterJohn Kenneth Galbraith Award, anArthur Ross Book Award, aLivingston Award, aRobert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, aFinancial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award, and theLionel Gelber Prize. From 2012 to 2013, he was a voting member of the Pulitzer Prize Board before continuing to serve in anex officio capacity as the dean of the Columbia Journalism School.

Steve Coll was born on October 8, 1958, inWashington, D.C. He attendedThomas S. Wootton High School inRockville, Maryland, graduating in 1976. Following high school, he moved toLos Angeles,California, and enrolled inOccidental College, where he was a member ofPhi Beta Kappa. In 1980, he graduatedcum laude with majors in English and history. Coll also attended theUniversity of Sussex during his studies.^[1][2]

Coll is married to the journalist and poetEliza Griswold.^[3]

After college, Coll wrote for thePasadenaWeekly. He then wrote general-interest articles forCalifornia magazine.^[4]

In 1985, he started working forThe Washington Post as a general assignment feature writer for the paper'sStyle section. Two years later, he was promoted to serve as the financial correspondent for the newspaper, based inNew York City. He andDavid A. Vise collaborated on a series of reports scrutinizing theSecurities and Exchange Commission for which they received the 1990Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting and theGerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers.^[5][6][7] In 1989, he moved toNew Delhi, when he was appointed as thePost's South Asia bureau chief. He served as a foreign correspondent through 1995.^[8]

Coll began working for the newspaper's Sunday magazine insert in 1995, serving as publisher of the magazine from 1996 to 1998. He was promoted to managing editor of the newspaper in 1998 and served in that capacity through 2004. He has also served as an associate editor for the newspaper from late 2004 to August 2005.

From September 2005 through December 2023, Coll was a member of the writing staff ofThe New Yorker. Based in Washington, D.C., he reported on foreign intelligence and national security.^[9][10] Since the beginning of 2024 he has been visiting senior editor atThe Economist.^[10]

On July 23, 2007, Coll was named as the next director of theNew America Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisanthink tank headquartered in Washington, D.C.^[11][12] He has also contributed to theNew York Review of Books, particularly about the war in Afghanistan. On June 25, 2012, Coll announced his resignation as President of the New America Foundation to pen a follow-up toGhost Wars.^[13]

On October 23, 2012, Coll was elected to thePulitzer Prize Board, administered byColumbia University.^[14]

On March 18, 2013, it was announced that Coll would succeedNick Lemann as the dean of theColumbia University Graduate School of Journalism, effective July 1, 2013.^[2][15]

Coll'sThe Achilles Trap was published in 2024 to positive reviews, with The New York Times writing that it offers, "a more intimate picture of the dictator [Saddam Hussein]’s thinking about world politics, local power and his relationship to the United States than has been seen before".^[16] The Washington Post argued that despite its holistic picture of Hussein, Coll failed to accurately portray the CIA's motivations.^[17] In a March 2024 interview, Coll told PBS that the contributions by Hussein were missing from Americans' understanding of the war.^[18]

• 1990:Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting (co-winner withDavid A. Vise)^[8]
• 1992:Livingston Award for International Reporting for "Crisis and Change in South Asia,"The Washington Post (winner)^[19][20]
• 2000:Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for "Peace Without Justice: A Journey to the Wounded Heart of Africa,"The Washington Post (1st Prize: International Print)
• 2000: Ed Cunningham Award for "Peace Without Justice: A Journey to the Wounded Heart of Africa",The Washington Post^[21]
• 2004:Lionel Gelber Prize forGhost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (winner)
• 2004:Cornelius Ryan Award forGhost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (winner)^[22]
• 2005:Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction forGhost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (winner)^[23]
• 2005:Arthur Ross Book Award forGhost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 (winner)
• 2008:National Book Critics Circle Award (biography) forThe Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (finalist)^[24]
• 2009:PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award forThe Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (winner)
• 2010: Edward Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting^[25]
• 2012:Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award forPrivate Empire (winner)^[26]
• 2012: National Book Critics Circle Award (nonfiction) forPrivate Empire (finalist)^[27]
• 2018: National Book Critics Circle Award (nonfiction) forDirectorate S (winner)^[28]
• 2024:Orwell Prize for Political Writing forThe Achilles Trap (shortlisted)^[29]

• Coll, Steve (1986).The Deal of the Century: The Breakup of AT&T. Atheneum.ISBN 9780689117572.OCLC 312023490.
• — (1987).The Taking of Getty Oil: The Full Story of the Most Spectacular & Catastrophic Takeover of All Time. Scribner.ISBN 9780689118609.
• Vise, David A. & Steve Coll (1991).Eagle on the Street: Based on the Pulitzer Prize–Winning Account of the SEC's Battle with Wall Street. New York: Scribner's.ISBN 0684193140.
• Coll, Steve (1993).On the Grand Trunk Road: A Journey into South Asia. Crown Press.ISBN 9780812920260.
• — (2004).Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001. Penguin.ISBN 9781594200076.
• — (2008).The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. Penguin.ISBN 9781616792527.
• — (2012).Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power. Penguin.ISBN 9781594203350.
• — (2018).Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, 2001–2016. Penguin Press.ISBN 9781846146602.
• — (2024).The Achilles Trap: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq. Penguin Press.ISBN 9780525562269.

• Coll, Steve (November 23, 2015)."ISIS After Paris".The New Yorker (Podcast).
• — (August 1, 2016)."Defying Conventions".The New Yorker (Podcast).
• — (August 29, 2016)."Images of War".The New Yorker (Podcast).
• — (September 26, 2016)."The Fear Factor".The New Yorker (Podcast).
• — (April 10, 2017)."Trump's Intervention".The New Yorker (Podcast).

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSteve Coll.

• Steve Coll atThe New York Review of Books
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• Steve Coll discussesGhost Wars onNational Public Radio'sAll Things Considered, August 2004 (three-part online audio series)
• Hour-long interview about "The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century" byAmy Goodman onDemocracy Now!, September 15, 2008 (video, audio, and print transcript)
• Video (with mp3 available) of conversation with Coll onBloggingheads.tv
• Webcast Interview onThe Bin Ladens at thePritzker Military Museum & Library on October 23, 2008
• Webcast Interview onGhost Wars at thePritzker Military Museum & Library on January 27, 2005

• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• American newspaper reporters and correspondents
• American newspaper editors
• American male journalists
• American war correspondents
• War correspondents of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)
• American non-fiction crime writers
• The New Yorker staff writers
• Non-fiction espionage writers
• Occidental College alumni
• Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction winners
• Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism winners
• 20th-century American male writers
• New America (organization)
• Gerald Loeb Award winners for Large Newspapers
• Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs
• 21st-century American male writers
• Columbia University faculty
• National Book Critics Circle Award winners
• 1958 births
• Living people

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