George Packer Popular Books

George Packer Biography & Facts

George Packer (born ca. 1960) is a US journalist, novelist, and playwright. He is best known for his writings for The New Yorker and The Atlantic about U.S. foreign policy and for his book The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq. Packer also wrote The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America, covering the history of the US from 1978 to 2012. In November 2013, The Unwinding received the National Book Award for Nonfiction. His award-winning biography, Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, was released in May 2019. His latest book, Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal, was released in June 2021. Early life and education Packer was born in California around 1960. His parents taught at Stanford University: his mother, Nancy Packer (née Huddleston), was a Wallace Stegner Fellow in the Creative Writing Program and later professor of English, and his father, Herbert L. Packer, was a distinguished professor of law, and the author of numerous books and articles. Packer's maternal grandfather, George Huddleston, Sr., had served eleven successive terms (1915–1937) representing Alabama's 9th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives. His uncle, George Huddleston, Jr., succeeded to his father's seat in the House of Representatives from 1954 to 1964. Packer's sister, Ann Packer, also is a writer. Their father's background was Jewish and their mother's Christian. In a 2022 talk for House of SpeakEasy's Seriously Entertaining program, Packer shared that his father took his own life when he (Packer) was twelve years old, calling it "the big event of my childhood."Packer graduated from Yale College in 1982, where he resided at Calhoun College (now called Grace Hopper College). He served in the Peace Corps in Togo.Packer is married to writer and editor Laura Secor. He was previously married to Michele Millon. Career His essays and articles have appeared in Boston Review, The Nation, World Affairs, Harper's, The New York Times, and The New Yorker, among other publications. Packer was a columnist for Mother Jones and was a staff writer for The New Yorker from 2003 to 2018. He now writes for The Atlantic.Packer was a Holtzbrinck Fellow Class of Fall 2009 at the American Academy in Berlin.His 2005 book The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq analyzes the events that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and reports on subsequent developments in that country, largely based on interviews with ordinary Iraqis. He was a supporter of the Iraq war. He was a finalist for the 2004 Michael Kelly Award. In July 2013 the New Yorker Festival released a video entitled Geoffrey Canada on Giving Voice to the Have-nots, of a panel that was moderated by George Packer. Along with Canada, the panelists included Abhijit Banerjee, Katherine Boo, and Jose Antonio Vargas.The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America focuses on the ways that America changed in the years between 1978 and 2012. The book achieves this mainly by tracing the lives of various individuals from different backgrounds through the years. Interspersed are capsule biographies of influential figures of the time such as Colin Powell, Newt Gingrich, Elizabeth Warren, Jay-Z, and Raymond Carver. In 2019, Packer released a book titled Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century, a full-scale scholarly biography of Richard Holbrooke, one of the most influential U.S. diplomats of the late 20th Century. Our Man was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Biography.His 2021 book Last Best Hope: America in Crisis and Renewal describes the fragmentation of American society in recent decades into four mutually antagonistic "four Americas": "Free America" (economically liberal), "Smart America" (educated, affluent and socially liberal), "Real America" (white rural precariat) and "Just America" (urban, progressive and economically disadvantaged). Awards and honors 2005 Cornelius Ryan Award, The Assassin's Gate 2013 National Book Award for Nonfiction, The Unwinding 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award (Nonfiction) shortlist for The Unwinding 2017 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant to complete Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century 2019 Hitchens Prize Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century 2019 Los Angeles Times Book Prize (biography) for Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century 2019 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American CenturyBibliography References External links George Packer articles at The New Yorker George Packer articles at Foreign Affairs George Packer articles at The New York Times Appearances on C-SPAN. Discover the George Packer popular books. Find the top 100 most popular George Packer books.

Best Seller George Packer Books of 2024

  • Our Man synopsis, comments

    Our Man

    George Packer

    Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for BiographyWinner of the Los Angeles Times Prize for BiographyWinner of the 2019 Hitchens Prize"Portrays Holbrooke in all of his endearing and exa...

  • On Corruption in America synopsis, comments

    On Corruption in America

    Sarah Chayes

    From the prizewinning journalist and internationally recognized expert on corruption in government networks throughout the world comes a major work that looks homeward to America, ...

  • Tales from the Texas Tech Red Raiders Sideline synopsis, comments

    Tales from the Texas Tech Red Raiders Sideline

    Spike Dykes, Dave Boling & Bill Little

    Tales from the Texas Tech Red Raiders Sideline will examine the games, stories, and players that have enriched the Red Raiders’ 79year history. College football fans will get an in...

  • Ausgeliefert synopsis, comments

    Ausgeliefert

    Alec MacGillis

    "Alec MacGillis ist einer der besten Reporter Amerikas." – George Packer, Bestsellerautor »Die Abwicklung«In seinem großen Gesellschaftsporträt der USA zeigt der preisgekrönte Inve...

  • The American Crisis synopsis, comments

    The American Crisis

    Writers of The Atlantic

    Some of America’s best reporters and thinkers offer an urgent look at a country in chaos in this collection of timely, often prophetic articles from The Atlantic. The past four yea...

  • Captain Crash and the Dallas Cowboys synopsis, comments

    Captain Crash and the Dallas Cowboys

    Cliff Harris & Gene Stallings

    How does it feel to see your name among the Cowboys greats in Texas Stadium’s Ring of Honor? What was it like to be recruited by professional scouts? What happened to the guy who h...

  • An Affirming Flame synopsis, comments

    An Affirming Flame

    Roger Cohen

    “For more than forty years Roger Cohen has ventured to every corner of the earth to chronicle the great upheavals of our age, but he’s never lost sight of what really matters: love...

  • The Jungle Grows Back synopsis, comments

    The Jungle Grows Back

    Robert Kagan

    "An incisive, elegantly written, new book about America’s unique role in the world." Tom Friedman, The New York TimesA brilliant and visionary argument for America's role as a...

  • Game of My Life Chicago Bears synopsis, comments

    Game of My Life Chicago Bears

    Lew Freedman

    Since their founding in 1919, the Chicago Bears have carried the hearts and souls of football fans throughout the country. Now supporters of one of the NFL’s most storied franchise...

  • Last Best Hope synopsis, comments

    Last Best Hope

    George Packer

    Acclaimed National Book Awardwinning author George Packer diagnoses America’s descent into a failed state, and envisions a path toward overcoming our injustices, paralyses, and div...

  • Dark Money synopsis, comments

    Dark Money

    Jane Mayer

    NATIONAL BESTSELLERONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES 10 BEST BOOKS OF THE YEARWho are the immensely wealthy rightwing ideologues shaping the fate of America today? From the bests...

  • The Four Tests synopsis, comments

    The Four Tests

    Daniel Baer

    A “lucidly argued” (Kirkus Reviews), illuminating, and ultimately optimistic roadmap for America’s future and the “tests” the United States must meet to maintain leadership and pow...

  • America in Retreat synopsis, comments

    America in Retreat

    Michael Pembroke

    The story of how America turned its back on the world... In the heady days after 1945, the authority of the United States was unrivalled and, with the founding of the UN, a new era...

  • Bearing the Cross synopsis, comments

    Bearing the Cross

    Irv Cross, Clifton Brown & Gil Brandt

    Born into poverty in Hammond, Indiana, not much was expected from Irvin Acie Cross. But with much hard work and dedication, he put together one of the most incredible life stories ...

  • A World Transformed synopsis, comments

    A World Transformed

    George H. W. Bush & Brent Scowcroft

    It was one of the pivotal times of the twentieth centuryduring George Bush's presidency, an extraordinary series of international events took place that materially changed the face...

  • 715 synopsis, comments

    715

    Kevin Neary & Monte Irvin

    Hank Aaron forever cemented his legacy in baseball when he surpassed the Babe’s home run record, but his impact reaches far beyond the diamond. 715, which celebrates the 40th anniv...

  • The Fighters synopsis, comments

    The Fighters

    C. J. Chivers

    The harrowing account of US soldiers caught in America’s forever wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that The New York Times calls “relentless...a classic of war reporting,” by Pulitzer P...

  • A Mysterious Country synopsis, comments

    A Mysterious Country

    Norman Mailer, J. Michael Lennon & John Buffalo Mailer

    Published on the centenary of Norman Mailer’s birth, a timely and urgent call to preserve our democracy From his bestselling first novel, The Naked and the Dead, to his last work, ...

  • The Class of Football synopsis, comments

    The Class of Football

    Adam Schefter

    Insightful, poignant, inspiring, and witty, The Class of Football is a heartfelt collection of hardearned wisdom and life's lessons from the HallofFame induction speeches...

  • The Lions Finally Roar synopsis, comments

    The Lions Finally Roar

    Bill Morris

    The epic and tumultuous story of the Lions, the Ford family, the city of Detroitand how all three have come together on the cusp of a new era.On Nov. 22, 1963, William Clay Ford, t...

  • Controversially Yours synopsis, comments

    Controversially Yours

    Anshu Dogra

    A tellall book on and by Pakistan cricket's fastest and most controversial bowlerOne of the most talented and certainly one of the most colourful players in the history of cricket,...