David Ignatius

This article is about the journalist and author. For the theologian, see David Friedrich Ignatius .

Ignatius in 2018

David Robert Ignatius (born May 26, 1950 in Cambridge , Massachusetts ) is an American journalist , economist and thriller writer . He is an editor and columnist for the Washington Post and a book author . His novel The Man Who Never Lived was filmed by Ridley Scott under the same title .

Life

On his father's side, Ignatius has Armenian roots with ancestors from Harput, Elaziğ and Turkey . His father Paul Robert Ignatius was, among other things, Secretary of State for the Navy .

Ignatius grew up in Washington, DC , where he attended the St. Albans School. After graduating from high school in 1968, he studied at Harvard University . He graduated magna cum laude in 1973 . With a scholarship he studied at King's College of Cambridge University economics and graduated with a diploma.

He is with Dr. Eve Ignatius is married and has three grown daughters.

Journalistic career

His journalistic career began after completing his training at the Washington Monthly. In 1976 he moved to the Wall Street Journal , where he worked as a reporter for ten years. From 1980 to 1983 he was a foreign correspondent for the Middle East . In 1984 he returned to Washington, where he was awarded the Edward Weintal Prize in 1985.

A year later he moved to the Washington Post. He worked in various departments of the "Post", among other things he was an editor for international reporting. From 1999 he wrote a column that appeared twice a week. This dealt with world politics, economic issues and international affairs.

In 2000 he became editor-in-chief of the International Herald Tribune in Paris. However, he went back to the "Post" in 2002 and wrote his columns again. In the course of his analyst activities , he often traveled to the Middle East and conducted interviews with politicians and heads of state, such as the President of Syria , Bashar al-Assad , and Hassan Nasrallah , the leader of Hezbollah .

His articles have also appeared in the New York Times , Atlantic Monthly , Foreign Affairs , New Republic , Talk Magazine, and The Washington Monthly. For his 70th birthday, he received an Eloge in the FAZ in 2019 .

Scandal at the World Economic Forum

In 2009 David Ignatius moderated a discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos , which led to a scandal: Ignatius gave Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , the Turkish Prime Minister, only 12 minutes of speaking time, while Israeli President Shimon Peres was given 25 minutes he emotionally defended the Israeli mission in the Gaza war at the turn of 2008/2009. Erdoğan interrupted Peres during the speech and was given a minute to respond; When this was over, he was interrupted several times by Ignatius, who finally put his hand on Erdoğan's shoulder and asked him not to delay the planned dinner. Erdoğan then gathered up his papers and left the room with the words that he did not think he would ever take part in a 'World Economic Forum' again. In retrospect, he emphasized that the content of the scandal was not directed against Peres, whom he called immediately after the conversation to clear up the inconsistencies, but only against what he saw as the partisan allocation of speaking time. In Turkey, Erdoğan was then received by an enthusiastic crowd.

Novels

In addition to his journalistic work, Ignatius is a successful agent thriller writer. He has written ten novels so far, all of which deal with espionage . Both critics and readers have praised them as exciting and realistic. Even the CIA praised the realism of his work. In addition to the fourth thriller, which has already been filmed, Disney Corporation has bought the rights for the sixth, "The Increment"

• Reporters without an assignment. Roman ("A firing offense"). Blessing Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89667-028-X
• Bank of fear. Thriller ("Bank of Fear"). Verlag von Schröder, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-547-74961-1 (also published under the title Blutgeld . Rowohlt, Reinbek 2010, ISBN 978-3-499-24909-9 )
• The King of Washington. Roman ("The sun king"). Blessing Verlag, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-89667-031-X
• The man who never lived. Thriller ("Body of Lies"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 2008, ISBN 978-3-499-24716-3
  • The man who never lived. Audio book . Abridged reading. Audiobook, Freiburg / B. 2008, ISBN 978-3-89964-302-2 (6 CDs, read by Johannes Steck )
• The network. Thriller ("Siro"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 2009, ISBN 978-3-499-24908-2
• The use. Thriller ("The increment"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 2010, ISBN 978-3-499-25291-4
• Operation Beirut. Thriller ("Agents of Innocence"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 2011, ISBN 978-3-499-24910-5 (former title: The roots of hell )
• The deal ("Bloodmoney"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 2012, ISBN 978-3-499-25770-4
• A new enemy ("The Director"). Rowohlt, Reinbek 2016, ISBN 978-3-49927094-9
• Quantum Spy. The enemy in the system ("The Quantum Spy"). Rowohlt, Hamburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-498-00117-9

Film adaptations

• 2008: Ridley Scott (Director): The Man Who Never Lived (with Leonardo DiCaprio , Russell Crowe, and others)

Web links

• David Ignatius in the nndb (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ see FAZ of August 24, 2019, p. 4