Kai Bird
Kai Bird | |
|---|---|
 Kai Bird in 2013 | |
| Born | September 2, 1951 Eugene, Oregon,U.S. |
| Occupation | Biographer,columnist |
| Alma mater | |
| Spouse | Susan Goldmark |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | |
| kaibird | |
Kai Bird(born September 2, 1951) is an American author and columnist, best known for his works on theatomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,United States-Middle East political relations,and his biographies of political figures. He won aPulitzer PrizeforAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.
Biography
[edit]Bird was born in 1951 inEugene,Oregon.His father was a U.S. Foreign Service officer, and Bird spent his childhood inJerusalem,Beirut,Dhahran,Cairo,andMumbai.His father named him after Kai-Yu Hsu, a refugee fromChinahe met at theUniversity of Oregon.[1]
Bird finished high school in 1969 atKodaikanal International SchoolinTamil Nadu,South India.He received hisB.A.in history fromCarleton Collegein 1973 and anM.S.in journalism fromNorthwestern Universityin 1975. Bird now lives inNew York Citywith his wife, Susan Goldmark, a retired country director of theWorld Bank.They have a son, Joshua.[2]
In January 2017, Bird was appointed Executive Director and Distinguished Lecturer at CUNY Graduate Center's Leon Levy Center for Biography in New York City.[3]
Literary career
[edit]After graduating from Carleton, Bird received aThomas J. Watson Fellowship,which enables students to do a year of independent study outside the United States. He used the fellowship to do a photojournalism project inYemen.Two years later, his wife Goldmark was also awarded aWatson Fellowship,and the two of them spent 15 months as freelance journalists traveling throughBangladesh,India,andPakistan."We filed weekly stories with papers like theChristian Science MonitorandHong Kong'sFar Eastern Economic Review,"Bird says." We hardly made any money, but we enjoyed what we were doing. "[4]Bird was an associate editor ofThe Nationmagazine from 1978 to 1982 and then a columnist for the magazine.
Published works
[edit]Bird's biographical works includeThe Color of Truth:McGeorge Bundy and William Bundy, Brothers in Arms(Touchstone, 1998);The Chairman: John J. McCloy and the Making of the American Establishment(Random House, 1992); andHiroshima's Shadow: Writings on the Denial of History and the Smithsonian Controversy(1998), which he co-edited with Lawrence Lifschultz.[2]
In April 2010 his bookCrossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956–1978was released byScribner.It is a meld of memoir and history, fusing his early life in theArabworld with an account of the American experience in the Middle East.
The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames(Crown, 2014) is a biography of CIA officerRobert Ames,whose career focus was theMiddle East.According to the book, Ames played a key role in starting the peace process that led to the Oslo accords between Israel and the PLO.[5][6]Ames perished in theApril 18, 1983, truck bombing of the American embassy in Beirut.
In 2021, he published a biography ofJimmy CarterentitledThe Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter.[7]
Awards
[edit]Bird is a recipient of aThomas J. Watson Fellowship(1973), an Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship[8](1981), aGuggenheim Fellowship(1984),[9]and aJohn D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Grantfor Research and Writing (1993–95). In 2001-2002 he was a fellow at theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.Bird and co-authorMartin J. Sherwinwon the 2006Pulitzer Prize for Biography or AutobiographyforAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer(Knopf, 2005).[10]He and Sherwin also won the 2005National Book Critics Circle Awardfor their biography ofJ. Robert Oppenheimer.In 2008, they also won theDuff Cooper Prize.[11]
Crossing Mandelbaum Gatewas a finalist for the 2010National Book Critics Circle Awardin the "Autobiography" category.[12][13]
In September 2016, he was the featured speaker atCarleton College's opening convocation inNorthfield, Minnesota.[13]
References
[edit]- ^Bird, Kai (April 20, 2010).Crossing Mandelbaum Gate: Coming of Age Between the Arabs and Israelis, 1956-1978.Simon and Schuster.ISBN9781439171608.
- ^abHiar, Corbin (April 24, 2009)."Kai Bird: The Nation's Foreign Editor".Hiar learning.Wordpress.RetrievedApril 24,2010.
- ^"Detail".
- ^"Slow Dog Studios".Archived fromthe originalon June 9, 2007.RetrievedMay 31,2009.
- ^Kai Bird:The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames.Crown, New York 2014,ISBN978-0-307-88975-1,p.2
- ^Drogin, Bob (May 16, 2014)."Review: 'Good Spy' scrutinizes Middle East CIA officer Robert Ames".Los Angeles Times.Archivedfrom the original on May 17, 2014.RetrievedJanuary 8,2024.
- ^Naftali, Timothy (June 15, 2021)."The Many Successes of Jimmy Carter — and His Ultimate Failure".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on June 15, 2021.RetrievedJanuary 8,2024.
- ^"Kal Bird".
- ^"John Simon Guggenheim Foundation - Kai Bird".
- ^Thompson, Bob (April 18, 2006)."Arts Pulitzers Make History the Big Winner".The Washington Post.RetrievedMarch 24,2011.
- ^Press, Orphans."Past Winners of The Duff Cooper Prize".The Duff Cooper Prize.
- ^"National Book Critics Circle".Archived fromthe originalon January 26, 2011.
- ^ab"Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Kai Bird '73 to present opening convocation".
External links
[edit]
- Official website
- Kai Bird's articles forThe Nation
- https://web.archive.org/web/20090105200954/http://slowdog.com/journEx_KaiBird.html
- Audio interview with Kai Bird and excerpt fromCrossing Mendelbaum GateatNPR
- AppearancesonC-SPAN
|  | |
- 1951 births
- 20th-century American biographers
- 20th-century American male writers
- 21st-century American biographers
- 21st-century American male writers
- American columnists
- American male biographers
- Carleton College alumni
- CUNY Graduate Center faculty
- Kodaikanal International School alumni
- Living people
- Medill School of Journalism alumni
- Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography winners
- Watson Fellows
- Writers from Eugene, Oregon