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Mark Danner

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Mark Danner
Danner in the garden of his New York apartment
Born(1958-11-10)November 10, 1958(age 65)
Utica, New York,US
NationalityAmerican
Alma materHarvard University
Occupation(s)Author, journalist, professor
OrganizationsUC Berkeley
Bard College
The New Yorker
The New York Review of Books
Websitemarkdanner

Mark David Danner(born November 10, 1958) is an American writer, journalist, and educator. He is a former staff writer forThe New Yorkerand frequent contributor toThe New York Review of Books.Danner specializes in U.S. foreign affairs, war and politics, and has written books and articles onHaiti,Central America, the formerYugoslavia,and the Middle East, as well as on American politics, covering every presidential election since 2000. In 1999, he was named aMacArthur Fellow.[1]

As of 2018,Danner holds the Class of 1961 Distinguished Chair in Undergraduate Education atUC Berkeley[2]and James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities atBard College.

Danner is a member of the Berkeley Collegium, theCouncil on Foreign Relations,theWorld Affairs Councilof Northern California, and theCentury Association,and is a fellow of the Institute of the Humanities atNew York University.In 2008 he was named the Marian and Andrew Heiskell Visiting Critic at theAmerican Academy in Rome,a post he took up again in 2010. Danner has had a longtime association with theTelluride Film Festival,where he introduces films and conducts interviews; in 2013, he was named resident curator there.[3]

Background and education[edit]

Danner was born atUtica, New York.He attendedUtica Free Academy,a public high school, and thenHarvard,where he graduated, magna cum laude, with a degree in modern literature and aesthetics in 1981.[4]At Harvard, he studied withStanley Cavell,Robert Kiely, Stanley Hoffmann, and Frank Kermode, who in 1977-78 was the Charles Eliot Norton Lecturer and became Danner's mentor and friend.

Career[edit]

Early years[edit]

After leaving Harvard, Danner joined the staff ofThe New York Review of Books,where he worked as an assistant to editorRobert B. Silversfrom 1981 to 1984.[5]In 1984, he moved toHarper's Magazineas a senior editor. In 1986, he joinedThe New York Times Magazine,where he specialized in foreign affairs and politics, writing pieces about nuclear weapons and about the fall of theDuvalierdictatorship in Haiti, among other stories.

The New Yorkerand El Mozote[edit]

In 1990, Danner joined the staff ofThe New Yorkershortly after the magazine published his three-part series on Haiti, "A Reporter at Large: Beyond the Mountains".

On December 6, 1993, for only the second time in its history,The New Yorkerdevoted its entire issue to one article, Danner's piece, "The Truth of El Mozote", an investigation into theEl Mozote massacrein El Salvador, thought to be one of the worst atrocities in modern Latin American history. The Mozote article became the basis for Danner's first book,The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War,which was published in 1994.The New York Times Book ReviewrecognizedThe Massacre at El Mozoteas one of its "Notable Books of the Year."[6]

The Balkans andThe New York Review of Books[edit]

During the mid-1990s Danner began reporting on the wars in the Balkans, writing a series of eleven extended articles forThe New York Review of Books,which began with Danner's cover piece, "The US and the Yugoslav Catastrophe" (November 20, 1997) and concluded with "Kosovo: The Meaning of Victory", (July 15, 1999).[7]

His 16,000-word essay, "Marooned in the Cold War: America, the Alliance and the Quest for a Vanished World," which appeared in World Policy Journal (Fall 1997) provoked a prolonged exchange of letters and responses from Assistant Secretary of StateRichard Holbrooke,Deputy Secretary of StateStrobe Talbott,CongressmanLee H. Hamilton,and AmbassadorGeorge F. Kennan.

Iraq and the War on Terror[edit]

Danner began writing about the war on terror soon after September 11, 2001, publishing "The Battlefield in the American Mind" inThe New York Timesin October of that year. He began speaking out against invading Iraq, notably in a series of debates withChristopher Hitchens,Leon Wieseltier,Michael Ignatieff,David Frum,William Kristoland others.[8]He reported from Iraq forThe New York Review of Booksin a series of lengthy dispatches including "Iraq: How Not to Win a War" (September 25, 2003), "Delusions in Baghdad" (February 12, 2004), and "The War of the Imagination" (December 21, 2006).

In May 2005 Danner wrote an essay for The New York Review accompanying the first American publication of the so-called "Downing Street Memo", the leaked minutes of a July 2002 meeting of high-level British officials that confirmed that when it came to the debate over whether to go to war in Iraq, "the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy," and that the invasion of Iraq was in fact a foregone conclusion. The essay provoked a number of responses and led to two subsequent essays, all of which were collected, along with relevant documents and a preface byThe New York TimescolumnistFrank Rich,in 2006 inThe Secret Way to War: the Downing Street Memo and the Iraq War's Buried History.

In October 2016, Brian Lamb sat down with Mark Danner to talk about his latest book,Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War,which looks at the 15-year U.S. war on terrorism. The interviewed aired on C-SPAN on Oct. 27, 2016.[9]

Torture and Abu Ghraib[edit]

Beginning in the spring of 2004, he wrote a series of essays forThe New York Review of Bookson the emerging torture scandal that came to be known asAbu Ghraib.In October 2004, he collected these essays and gathered them, together with a series of government documents and reports, into his book,Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib and the War on Terror.

In March 2009, Danner published an essay inThe New York Review,"US Torture: Voices from the Black Sites", which revealed the contents of a secretInternational Committee of the Red Crossreport based on testimony from "high-value detainees" in the "War on Terror," who had been captured, held, and interrogated at secret US prisons—the so-called "black sites". Shortly thereafter, he published a second essay, "The Red Cross Report: What it Means" and released the full text of the report onThe New York Reviewwebsite. Weeks later, President Obama ordered released four Justice Department memos in which the Bush administration purported "to legalize torture." Senior Obama officials Rahm Emanuel andDavid Axelrodclaimed publicly that the memos' release was prompted by publication of the Red Cross Report.[10]

Mark Danner On Donald Trump[edit]

In the spring of 2016, Danner began covering the 2016 general election forThe New York Review of Books,profiling then Republican presidential candidateDonald J. Trumpon his campaign trail. In May,The New York Review of Bookspublished "The Magic of Donald Trump,"[11]and on Dec. 22, the magazine published "The Real Trump."[12]

Following the articles, Danner has appeared as a guest on multiple radio shows, including WNUR 89.3FM Chicago's "This is Hell!"[13]and KALW 91.5FM San Francisco's "Your Call",[14]to discuss Trump's presidency. He also has sat down with Bard President Leon Botstein twice to discuss President Donald Trump's first days in office and his approach to foreign and domestic policy.[15][16][17]

In March 2017,The New York Review of Bookspublished Danner's "What Could He Do?," which chronicles Trump's first days in office.[18]

Mark continued his coverage Donald Trump in the 2020 election. In October 2020, The New York Review of Books published Danner's "The Con He Rode In On," outlining the fallacies and damage of the Trump Presidency and campaign.[19]After the 2020 election, Danner attended the Trump rally at the White House ellipse on January 6, marching to the U.S. Capitol, and reported on it in his piece "Be Ready to Fight".[20]"The Slow-Motion Coup," the first in a series of essays on January 6 and Donald Trump, appeared in the New York Review of Books.[21]

Other works[edit]

Books[edit]

In addition toThe Massacre at El Mozote(1994),Torture and Truth(2004), andThe Secret Way to War(2006), Danner is the author ofThe Road to Illegitimacy: One Reporter's Travels through the 2000 Florida Recount(2003) andStripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War(2009). His most recent book isSpiral: Trapped in the Forever War,published in June 2016.

Television and commentary[edit]

Danner co-wrote and helped produce two-hour-long television documentaries forABCNews'Peter JenningsReporting series: "While America Watched: The Bosnian Tragedy" and "House on Fire: America's Haitian Crisis", which both aired in 1994. As commentator, Danner has appeared onThe Charlie Rose Show,The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHourandBill Moyers JournalonPBS,CNN's Prime News,The Situation Room,andAnderson Cooper 360,ABC'sWorld News Now,C-Span'sMorning Show,andThe Rachel Maddow Showon MSNBC, among others.

Academic career[edit]

Since 2000, Danner has been a Professor of Journalism at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.In 2002 he also accepted aHenry R. Luceprofessorship in Human Rights and Journalism atBard College,where, in 2006, he was named the James Clarke Chace Professor of Foreign Affairs and the Humanities. As of 2021, he holds the Class of 1961 Distinguished Chair in Undergraduate Education at UC Berkeley.[22]He teaches on foreign affairs, politics, and literature, including seminars on foreign reporting, war and revolution,[23]crisis management, Trump Abroad,[24]Faulkner,[25]Hemingway,[26]Chekhov,[27]and Tolstoy.[28]At Bard he conducts seminars on politics and literature, including on torture, utopia,Faust,the picaresque, drone warfare, and the politics of the War on Terror.[29]In April 2010, Danner delivered the Tanner Lectures on Human Values atStanford,entitled "Torture and the Forever War: Living in the State of Exception."[30]From 2011 to 2012, Danner taught politics and literature, including courses on the Arab Spring, on the politics of dictatorships and on drone warfare, atAl Quds Universityin Jerusalem.

Honors and awards (selected)[edit]

Winner[edit]

  • 1999MacArthur Fellow.The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
  • 1990National Magazine Award for Reporting."A Reporter at Large: Beyond the Mountains," The New Yorker
  • 1993Overseas Press Award.The Madeline Dane Ross Award for Best International Reporting for "The Truth of El Mozote,"
  • 1994 Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Special Media Award for "The Truth of El Mozote,"
  • 1994 Emmy Award for "While America Watched: The Bosnia Tragedy," ABC News Peter Jennings Reporting
  • 1995 DuPont Gold Baton for "While America Watched: The Bosnia Tragedy," Peter Jennings Reporting.
  • 1998Overseas Press Award.The Ed Cunningham Award for "Yugoslav Wars,” The New York Review of Books.
  • 2004Overseas Press Award.The Madeline Dane Ross Award for For Torture and Truth
  • 2006 Carey McWilliams Award, American Political Science Association.
  • 2006 Best American Political Writing, For “Taking Stock of the Forever War.”
  • 2007 TheBest American Essays,For “Iraq: The War of the Imagination."
  • 2016 – 17 Andrew Carnegie Fellow, April 2016.
  • 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, April 2019

Finalist[edit]

Personal life[edit]

In 2011, while teaching at Al Quds University in Palestine, Danner met Michelle Sipe of Gainesville, Florida, a Victorian Literature professor. They married in 2014 and have two children, Grace Beth Danner and Truman Leo Danner. The family divide their time between their house in the Berkeley hills of California and the Hudson Valley of New York State.

Published works[edit]

Books
  • Spiral: Trapped in the Forever War.New York: Simon & Schuster. 2016.ISBN978-1-4767-4776-7.
  • The Massacre at El Mozote: A Parable of the Cold War.New York: Vintage. 1994.ISBN0-679-75525-X.
  • The Road to Illegitimacy: One Reporter's Travels through the 2000 Florida Vote Recount.New Jersey: Melville House. 2004.ISBN978-0-9749609-6-8.
  • Torture and Truth: America, Abu Ghraib, and the War on Terror.New York: New York Review Books. 2004.ISBN978-0-679-41532-9.
  • The Secret Way to War: The Downing Street Memo and the Iraq War's Buried History.New York: New York Review Books. 2006.ISBN978-1-59017-207-0.
  • Stripping Bare the Body: Politics Violence War.New York: Nation Books. 2009.ISBN978-1-56858-413-3.
Reporting and Essays (selected)
Lectures and Interviews (selected)
Anthologies and Introductions

References[edit]

  1. ^"Fellows List - July 1999 - MacArthur Foundation".September 1, 2006. Archived fromthe originalon September 1, 2006.RetrievedDecember 16,2017.
  2. ^Chuck Harris."Faculty–UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism".Journalism.berkeley.edu.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  3. ^Danner, Mark."Bio".markdanner.RetrievedJanuary 14,2014.
  4. ^"Into the Inferno, with Notebook"."Writer Mark Danner is at his best when the world is at its worst",Harvardmagazine, January–February 2005
  5. ^"The Most Powerful People in New York - Five Prominent Locals Whose Underlings Have Gone on to Big Things".Nymag.September 26, 2010.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  6. ^"Notable Books of the Year: 1994"."Notable Books of the Year: 1994",The New York Times,December 4, 1994
  7. ^"Contributor - New York Review of Books"."Contributor - New York Review of Books",The New York Review of Books,December 7, 2018
  8. ^"The Great Debate" by Gary Kamiya,salon,January 30, 2003
  9. ^"Q&A; Mark Danner - Video - C-SPAN.org".December 28, 2016. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016.RetrievedDecember 16,2017.{{cite web}}:CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ^"Emanuel Addresses Torture MemosPolitico
  11. ^"The Magic of Donald Trump | by Mark Danner | The New York Review of Books".Nybooks.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  12. ^"The Real Trump | by Mark Danner | The New York Review of Books".Nybooks.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  13. ^"What happens when Donald Trump's improv act takes the highest stage?".This Is Hell!. July 9, 2016.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  14. ^"Your Call's Inauguration Special: Barack Obama's press freedom legacy".Kalw.org.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  15. ^Bard College."Bard Press Release | Bard President Leon Botstein and Professor and Journalist Mark Danner Discuss President Donald Trump's Foreign and Domestic Policies in Public Dialogue on February 2".Bard.edu.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  16. ^"Mark Danner".Mark Danner. February 2, 2017.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  17. ^"Bard College".Totalwebcasting.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  18. ^"What He Could Do | by Mark Danner | The New York Review of Books".Nybooks.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  19. ^"The Con He Rode In On; by Mark Danner; The New York Review of Books".Nybooks.RetrievedJanuary 29,2021.
  20. ^"'Be Ready to Fight'; by Mark Danner; The New York Review of Book ".NYbooks \access-date=2021-1-29.
  21. ^Danner, Mark."The Slow-Motion Coup | Mark Danner".ISSN0028-7504.RetrievedSeptember 26,2022.
  22. ^Berkeley."Mark Danner".Berkeley English Faculty.
  23. ^"Mark Danner Wars, Coups and Revolutions: Political Violence and How to Write About It".markdanner.Archived fromthe originalon August 22, 2019.
  24. ^"Mark Danner Trump Abroad: America First and the End of Human Rights".markdanner.Archived fromthe originalon November 30, 2021.
  25. ^"Mark Danner Writing Race: Faulkner and HIs Progeny".markdanner.Archived fromthe originalon December 7, 2021.
  26. ^"Mark Danner Writing Manhood: Hemingway & His Progeny".markdanner.Archived fromthe originalon November 30, 2021.
  27. ^"Mark Danner How To Tell The Story: Chekhov and the Depiction of Reality".markdanner.Archived fromthe originalon November 30, 2021.
  28. ^"Mark Danner Tolstoy and the Birth of Literary Realism".markdanner.Archived fromthe originalon November 30, 2021.
  29. ^"Mark Danner".Mark Danner.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.
  30. ^"Journalist and academic Mark Danner to deliver Stanford's 2010 Tanner Lectures, with focus on torture".News.stanford.edu.February 19, 2010.RetrievedJuly 22,2017.

External links[edit]

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