Elliot Ackerman

Elliot Ackerman is a contributing writer at The Atlantic. He is the New York Times best-selling author of the novels 2034, Red Dress in Black and White, Waiting for Eden, Dark at the Crossing, and Green on Blue, as well as the memoirs Places and Names: On War, Revolution, and Returning and The Fifth Act: America’s End in Afghanistan. His books have been nominated for the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie Medal in both fiction and nonfiction, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, among others. He is a former White House fellow and Marine veteran who served five tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, where he received the Silver Star, the Bronze Star for Valor, and the Purple Heart.

Latest

  1. Bring Back the War Department

    If you want a clear strategy for winning wars, don’t play a semantic game with the name of the department that’s charged with the strategy’s execution.

    Elliot Ackerman
    Collage with black-and-white photo of U.S. soldiers in WWII carrying the American flag, with a red Department of Defense stamp, and a photo of officials in front of the American flag.
    Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.

  8. The Two Marys

    A pair of biographies written in an era much like our own have lessons for this moment.

    Elliot Ackerman
    Marie Antoinette and Mary Queen of Scots
    Illustration by The Atlantic; Sources: Getty.

  9. War-Gaming for Democracy

    I went to an exercise imagining the first day of a second Trump presidency—and left with some unsettling questions.

    Elliot Ackerman
    Red and blue hawks as chess pieces
    Illustration by The Atlantic. Source: Getty.