Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a24c2f975b90d04f

Jump to content

Elliot Ackerman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Elliot Ackerman
Elliot Ackerman
Elliot Ackerman
Born (1980-04-12) April 12, 1980 (age 46)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationNovelist, memoirist, journalist
Alma materTufts University
GenreFiction
Years active2013 to present
Notable awardsSilver Star,
Purple Heart
Elliot Ackerman
AllegianceUnited States United States
Branch
United States Marine Corps United States Marine Corps
Conflicts
War in Iraq
War in Afghanistan

Elliot Ackerman (born April 12, 1980) is an American author, journalist, former Marine Raider and CIA Special Activities Officer.[1][2] He is the New York Times-bestselling author of the novels 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, Red Dress In Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, Green on Blue, Halcyon, 2054, 2084 and Sheepdogs, as well as the memoirs The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan and Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning. His books have received significant critical acclaim, including nominations for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medals in both fiction and non-fiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. He served as a White House fellow in the Obama administration and is a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a contributing writer to The Atlantic[3] and has written for The New York Times[4] and, more recently, The Free Press,[5] and is a contributor to CBS News.[6] He is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council's Forward Defense program and a senior fellow at Yale's Jackson School of Global Affairs.[7] He was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star with Valor, and a Purple Heart during his five deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Early life and education

[edit]

He is the son of businessman Peter Ackerman and author Joanne Leedom-Ackerman and the brother of mathematician and wrestler Nate Ackerman. At the age of nine, Ackerman and his family moved to London.[8] The family moved back to the United States, specifically Washington, DC, when he was fifteen.[8]

Ackerman studied literature and history at Tufts University, where he also joined Naval ROTC (Marine Corps option).[9] He graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 2003.[10] He holds a master's degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.[11] He also completed many of the United States military's most challenging special operations training courses.[12]

Career

[edit]

Military

[edit]

Beginning in 2003, Ackerman served eight years in the U.S. Marine Corps as both an infantry and special operations officer.[13] He was initially assigned as a platoon commander in 1st Battalion, 8th Marines,[13][14] and served multiple tours of duty in the Middle East and Southwest Asia.[15] As a Marine Corps special operations team leader, Ackerman was the primary combat advisor to a 700-man Afghan commando battalion responsible for capture operations against senior Taliban leadership. He also led a 75-man platoon that aided in relief operations in post-Katrina New Orleans.[16] He was briefly attached to the Ground Branch of the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division.[17]

Second Battle of Fallujah

[edit]

In 2004, Ackerman led a Marine rifle platoon of 45 men during the Second Battle of Fallujah.[18] During one night of the month-long battle, the platoon established a fighting position in a store. When the sun rose the next day, they were surrounded by insurgents. While wounded himself, Ackerman exposed himself to enemy fire to pull wounded Marines to safety and coordinated four separate medical evacuations. To save the platoon, he ordered his men to use explosives to destroy the store's back wall. Twenty-five men were wounded, but everyone escaped alive. Ackerman was awarded the Silver Star for his "heroics in the battle" and a Purple Heart for his wounds.[14][18][19]

Afghanistan

[edit]

Ackerman received the Bronze Star for Valor for leading his Marine special operations team through an ambush in Herat Province, Afghanistan, in which one Special Forces soldier was killed.[14][20]

In 2021, as the Afghan government fell to the Taliban, Ackerman took part in a self-organized, informal effort by veterans, journalists and activists to help evacuate Afghans who had worked alongside U.S. forces.[21] He later wrote in The New York Times that, following the U.S. withdrawal, "it has fallen to veterans and other civilians to try to save those who are desperately appealing for our help."[22] His memoir The Fifth Act recounts these efforts.[23]

Political

[edit]

Ackerman served as chief operating officer of Americans Elect, a political organization known primarily for its efforts to stage a national online primary for the 2012 US presidential election.[24] As one of its officers, Ackerman was interviewed extensively, notably on NPR's Talk of the Nation.[25]

Ackerman has served on the board of the Afghan Scholars Initiative and as an advisor to the No Greater Sacrifice scholarship fund.[26] He is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.[27]

In 2012 to 2013, Ackerman served as a White House fellow in the Obama administration.[26]

Author and journalist

[edit]

Ackerman has written and published eight novels (Green on Blue, Dark at the Crossing, Waiting for Eden, Red Dress in Black & White, Halcyon, 2054 and 2084 with Admiral James G. Stavridis, and Sheepdogs), and two memoirs (Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning and The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan).[28] His fiction and essays have also appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, Time, Harper's Magazine, Ecotone and others (see Selected Bibliography). He was a writer for Esquire,[20] and is also a contributor to The Daily Beast[29] and, more recently, The Free Press, where his recurring "A Man Should Know" series and commentary on defense policy have appeared.[30]

Green on Blue

[edit]

Ackerman's first novel, Green on Blue, was published February 17, 2015 by Scribner.[31] Tom Bissell of the New York Times Book Review said,

Like all novels written in skilled, unadorned prose about men and women of action, this novel will probably be compared to Hemingway's work. In this case, however, the comparison seems unusually apt ... Elliot Ackerman has done something brave as a writer and even braver as a soldier: He has touched, for real, the culture and soul of his enemy.[32]

The Los Angeles Review of Books describes the novel as a "radical departure from veterans writing thus far" due to his choice of a first-person narrator, the lowly Aziz, a poor soldier in a local militia.[33] The Stars and Stripes review described Green on Blue and Phil Klay's Redeployment as carrying "the sting of authenticity and the sensory expression of experiences lived".[34] Green on Blue was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.[35]

Dark at the Crossing

[edit]

Ackerman's second novel Dark at the Crossing, published January 24, 2017, by Alfred A. Knopf, was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2017. In a starred review Library Journal wrote, "Here is a thriller, psychological fiction, political intrigue, and even a love story all wrapped into a stunningly realistic and sometimes horrifying package. Put Ackerman on the A-list."[36] In the New York Times Book Review the novelist Lawrence Osborne wrote, "One could argue that the most vital literary terrain in America's overseas wars is now occupied not by journalists but by novelists ... Elliot Ackerman is certainly one of those novelists ... He has created people who are not the equivalents of the locally exotic subjects in your average NPR story, and he has used them to populate a fascinating and topical novel."[37] Dark at the Crossing was noted as one of the best books of the year by the Washington Post, NPR, the Christian Science Monitor, Military Times, Vogue, and Bloomberg and was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. Ackerman was a featured author at the Miami Book Fair in 2017.[38]

Waiting for Eden

[edit]

Ackerman's third novel Waiting for Eden was published September 25, 2018, by Alfred A. Knopf. The book was nominated for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and it won the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's James Webb Award. Author Anthony Swofford wrote in The New York Times Book Review, "Masterly ... Brilliant ... In his short novel, Ackerman accomplishes what a mountain of maximalist books have rarely delivered over tens of thousands of pages and a few decades: He makes pure character-based literary art, dedicated only to deeply human storytelling."[39] The novel was one of the best books of the year on Amazon, NPR, and the Washington Post and was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.

Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning

[edit]

Ackerman's fourth book Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning was published June 11, 2019, by Penguin Press.[40] The memoir was nominated for the 2020 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Non-fiction.[41] Time magazine named it a must-read book of 2019.[42] It was also a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.

Red Dress in Black & White

[edit]

Ackerman's fifth book Red Dress in Black & White was published May 26, 2020, by Alfred A. Knopf. The novel was nominated for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction[43] and was also a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.[44]

2034: A Novel of the Next World War

[edit]

2034: A Novel of the Next World War is jointly authored by Admiral James G. Stavridis, USN (Ret.), and was released on March 9, 2021, by Penguin Press.[45] The novel, a New York Times bestseller, imagines a war between the United States and China in the South China Sea.

The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan

[edit]

In The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan, Ackerman recounts his life as an infantry officer on combat missions, his decision to leave the military, and the efforts to get Afghans out of the country in 2021 when the U.S. pulled out.[46] The Fifth Act was published by Penguin Press in August 2022.[47]

Halcyon

[edit]

Ackerman's sixth novel, Halcyon, an alternate history in which Al Gore won the 2000 presidential election, was published by Knopf on May 23, 2023.[48] Reviewing it for The Washington Post, Mark Athitakis called it "an entertaining thought experiment," and it was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.[49]

2054 and 2084

[edit]

Ackerman and Admiral Stavridis followed 2034 with two further novels of speculative future conflict: 2054, published by Penguin Press in 2024, envisions political upheaval driven by artificial intelligence, and 2084, published in 2026, depicts a war between wealthy and equatorial nations over climate change.[50][51]

Sheepdogs

[edit]

Ackerman's novel Sheepdogs, a comic thriller following two private security operatives, was published by Penguin Press on August 5, 2025, and was a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice.[52]

Articles, Essays, and Short Stories

[edit]

For a period of time, Ackerman lived in Istanbul and worked as a reporter covering the Syrian Civil War.[53] His article "Why Bringing Back the Draft Could Stop America's Forever Wars" was featured on the cover of the October 21, 2019, issue of Time magazine.[54] More recently he has written commentary on defense policy for The Free Press, including on the Pete Hegseth-era Pentagon's "warrior culture" initiatives.[55]

Awards and honors

[edit]

Military awards

[edit]

Writing awards

[edit]

Select bibliography

[edit]

Novels

[edit]
  • Green on Blue: A Novel. Scribner, 2015. ISBN 978-1476778563[64]
  • Dark at the Crossing. Knopf, 2017. ISBN 978-1101947371
  • Waiting for Eden. Knopf, 2018. ISBN 978-1101947395
  • Red Dress in Black & White. Knopf, 2020. ISBN 978-0525521815
  • Halcyon. Knopf, 2023. ISBN 0593321626
  • Sheepdogs. Penguin Press, 2025. ISBN 978-0593803851

Memoirs

[edit]

Co-authored novels with Admiral James G. Stavridis

[edit]

Magazines

[edit]
  • "Why Bringing Back the Draft Could Stop America's Forever Wars". Time October 21, 2019[54]
  • "Goodbye, My Brother". Esquire March 23, 2017[65]
  • "A West Point Literature Professor's Inspiring Plea for Creativity in Our Military". The New Republic October 27, 2014[66]
  • "Hometown Heroes". War, Literature and the Arts October 3, 2014[67]
  • "Pictures from My War". The New Yorker September 21, 2014[68]
  • "Watching ISIS Come to Power Again". The Daily Beast September 7, 2014[69]
  • "Charlie Balls". Ecotone, Volume 9, Number 1, Fall 2013, pp. 81--90[70]
  • "The Case for Female SEALs". The Atlantic December 24, 2013[71]
  • "How Being an Intelligence Officer Made Me a Better Writer". The Free Press August 4, 2025

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot Leedom; Huber, Andrew, Elliot Leedom Ackerman Collection, Library of Congress, retrieved July 21, 2022
  2. ↑ Combat Story (May 15, 2021). Combat Story (Ep 28): Elliot Ackerman - Marine | MARSOC | CIA Paramilitary | Best Selling Author. Retrieved July 3, 2025 – via YouTube.
  3. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot. "Elliot Ackerman". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Elliot Ackerman". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  5. ↑ "Elliot Ackerman". The Free Press. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Media | Elliot Ackerman". elliotackerman.net. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Elliot Ackerman". Atlantic Council. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  8. 1 2 Ackerman, Elliot (December 5, 2014). "Safe on the Southbank". The New York Times Magazine.
  9. ↑ Williams, John (February 27, 2015). "Transcending War". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  10. ↑ Morelli, Naima (March 11, 2016). "Elliot Ackerman: Intellectuals at war and the ethical soldier - Global Comment". Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Afghanistan crisis: Commentary and Insights from Members of the Fletcher Community | The Fletcher School". fletcher.tufts.edu. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  12. ↑ "Tufts Magazine / Spring 2007". March 5, 2016. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  13. 1 2 Michael Blanding. "The Opposite of Fear: In the Battle of Fallujah, a Marine Platoon Learns What Its Leader Is Made Of". Tufts Magazine. Tufts Publications. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  14. 1 2 3 pzdupe1. "A former Marine officer retells his journey from 'fortunate son' to hero in the Battle of Fallujah". Business Insider. Retrieved February 1, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ↑ "Human Side of War Panel: 2015 National Book Festival". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  16. ↑ "What the Response to Hurricane Katrina Taught One Veteran About How We Help One Another". Time. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  17. ↑ "Assassination and the American Language". The New Yorker. November 20, 2014. Retrieved November 3, 2018.
  18. 1 2 "Elliot Ackerman - Recipient -". valor.militarytimes.com. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  19. ↑ "Author and Veteran Elliot Ackerman Reflects on the War That Defined His Generation". Esquire. June 11, 2019. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  20. 1 2 "A Silver Star-Recipient Talks About Returning To The Middle East To Write About War". Task & Purpose. February 9, 2017. Retrieved February 8, 2023.
  21. ↑ Magazine, Politico (August 12, 2022). "Afghanistan, one year later". POLITICO. Retrieved February 21, 2023.
  22. ↑ "How US veterans rescued scores of people from Afghanistan". Task & Purpose. August 31, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  23. ↑ "A new memoir from a decorated Marine Raider captures the horrors of the Afghanistan withdrawal". Task & Purpose. August 8, 2022. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  24. ↑ Klein, Ezra (March 16, 2012). "Americans Elect's plan for primary reform". Washington Post. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  25. ↑ National Public Radio. Talk of the Nation, July 26, 2011.
  26. 1 2 3 "Press Release: White House Appoints 2012-2013 Class Of White House Fellows". Whitehouse.gov. White House Office of the Press Secretary. September 4, 2012.
  27. ↑ "Council on Foreign Relations". Council on Foreign Relations. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  28. ↑ "Elliot Ackerman". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  29. ↑ "Search". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  30. ↑ "Articles by Elliot Ackerman". Muck Rack. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  31. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot (February 2, 2016). Green on Blue. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-7856-3.
  32. ↑ Bissell, Tom (February 27, 2015). "Elliot Ackerman's 'Green on Blue'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Afghanistan: A Stage Without a Play - The Los Angeles Review of Books". The Los Angeles Review of Books. October 2, 2014.
  34. ↑ "Back from the battlefield: Iraq, Afghanistan vets produce a surge of great fiction". Stars and Stripes.
  35. 1 2 "Editors' Choice". The New York Times. March 6, 2015. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  36. ↑ "Library Journal Fiction Reviews: September 15, 2016". Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  37. ↑ Osborne, Lawrence (February 1, 2017). "A Story of Chaos at the Border of Turkey and Syria". The New York Times.
  38. 1 2 "2017 National Book Awards". National Book Foundation. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  39. ↑ Swofford, Anthony (October 4, 2018). "A Short Novel of Love, War and Comrades in Arms Contains the World in a Foxhole". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  40. ↑ "Places and Names by Elliot Ackerman: 9780525559986 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  41. 1 2 JCARMICHAEL (October 19, 2020). "2020 Winners". Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  42. ↑ "'Places and Names' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2019". Time. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  43. ↑ Andrew Albanese |. "ALA Announces Longlist for 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
  44. 1 2 "11 New Books We Recommend This Week". The New York Times. June 4, 2020. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  45. ↑ "2034 by Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis, USN: 9781984881274 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  46. ↑ "To Leave No One Behind in Afghanistan | Tufts Now". now.tufts.edu. August 8, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  47. ↑ "Book excerpt: "The Fifth Act," on one American's role in Afghanistan". www.cbsnews.com. August 5, 2022. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  48. ↑ "HALCYON by Elliot Ackerman". Janklow & Nesbit. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  49. ↑ Athitakis, Mark (June 7, 2023). "Elliot Ackerman's 'Halcyon' imagines President Al Gore and more". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  50. ↑ "2084 by Elliot Ackerman, Admiral James Stavridis, USN". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  51. ↑ "In '2084,' authors fictionalize global threats as a real world warning". NPR. May 12, 2026. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  52. ↑ "Sheepdogs by Elliot Ackerman". Penguin Random House. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  53. ↑ "After Five Marine Tours, Elliot Ackerman Has a Different Take on Iraq". Esquire. January 24, 2017. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
  54. 1 2 "Why Bringing Back the Draft Could Stop America's Forever Wars". Time. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  55. ↑ "Elliot Ackerman in the Free Press on Pete Hegseth". Atlantic Council. Retrieved July 31, 2026.
  56. 1 2 "U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Elliott Ackerman - U.S. Department of Defense Official Website". May 29, 2011. Archived from the original on May 29, 2011. Retrieved November 26, 2019.
  57. ↑ "2016 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Finalists". www.daytonliterarypeaceprize.org. Archived from the original on October 24, 2016. Retrieved November 21, 2017.
  58. ↑ "Amazon's 2015 Best Books of the Year: The Top 100 (100 books)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  59. ↑ "10 New Books We Recommend This Week". The New York Times. February 9, 2017. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  60. ↑ JCARMICHAEL (October 19, 2020). "2019 Winners". Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  61. ↑ "Annual Awards Program: 2019 Award Winners!". Marine Corps Heritage Foundation. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  62. ↑ "'Places and Names' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2019". Time. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  63. ↑ JCARMICHAEL (October 18, 2020). "2021 Winners". Reference & User Services Association (RUSA). Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  64. ↑ Green on Blue: A Novel. Scribner. February 17, 2015. ISBN 978-1-4767-7857-0.
  65. ↑ "Going Back to Fallujah". Esquire. March 23, 2017. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  66. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot (October 28, 2014). "A West Point Literature Professor's Inspiring Plea for Creativity in Our Military". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  67. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot (October 3, 2014). "Hometown Heroes" (PDF). War, Literature and the Arts (26): 1--15.
  68. ↑ "Pictures from My War". The New Yorker. September 21, 2014. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  69. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot (September 7, 2014). "Watching ISIS Come to Power Again". The Daily Beast. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
  70. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot (2013). "Charlie Balls". Ecotone. 9 (1): 81--90. doi:10.1353/ect.2013.0034. ISSN 2165-2651. S2CID 201741118.
  71. ↑ Ackerman, Elliot (December 24, 2013). "The Case for Female SEALs". The Atlantic. Retrieved July 21, 2022.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Elliot_Ackerman&oldid=1367167145"