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Thomas E. Ricks (journalist)

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For the Mormon pioneer, see Thomas E. Ricks (Mormon).
Thomas E. Ricks
Thomas Ricks in 2007
Ricks in 2007, posing with his book Fiasco
Born
Thomas Edwin Ricks

(1955-09-25) September 25, 1955 (age 69)
Beverly, Massachusetts, United States
EducationBA
Alma materYale University, 1977
Occupation(s)Writer, journalist, editor, and educator
EmployerCenter for a New American Security
Known forcritique of U.S. national security policy, especially Operation Iraqi Freedom
TitleSenior Fellow
Awards2000 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (on Wall Street Journal team) for articles on how the U.S. Military might change to meet twenty-first-century demands
2002 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting (on Washington Post team) for reporting about the beginnings of the U.S. counteroffensive against terrorism
Society of Professional Journalists Award for best feature reporting.
2007 Distinguished alumnus of Scarsdale High School
Notes

Thomas Edwin "Tom" Ricks (born September 25, 1955)[5] is an American journalist who writes on defense topics. He is a Pulitzer Prize-winning former reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post. He writes a blog at ForeignPolicy.com[6] and is a member of the Center for a New American Security,[7] a defense policy think tank.

He lectures widely to the military and is a member of Harvard University's Senior Advisory Council on the Project on U.S. Civil-Military Relations. He has reported on military activities in Somalia, Haiti, Korea, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Kuwait, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Ricks is author of five books: the bestselling Fiasco: The American Military Adventure In Iraq (2006), its follow-up The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 (2009), The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today (2012), the novel A Soldier's Duty (2001), and Making the Corps (1997).[8]

Life and career

Ricks was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, and grew up in New York and Afghanistan, one of six children. He is the son of Anne and David Frank Ricks, a professor of psychology.[9] He attended the American International School in Kabul (1968–1970), including his freshman year of high school.[10] He graduated from Scarsdale High School (1973).[4]

After earning a B.A. from Yale University (1977), he was an instructor at Lingnan College, Hong Kong (1977–1979), and assistant editor at the Wilson Quarterly (1979–1981). At the Wall Street Journal he was a reporter (1982–1985) and deputy Miami bureau chief (1986). In Washington, D.C., he was a Journal reporter (1987–1989), feature editor (1989–1992), and Pentagon correspondent, (1992–1999). He was a military correspondent at the Washington Post (2000–2008).[1][2][5][11]

While at the Wall Street Journal, he was one of the reporters writing the "Price of Power" series discussing United States defense spending and potential changes confronting the US military following the Cold War. The series won the Journal the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting.[11] Ricks was a finalist for the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction for his book Fiasco.[12]

While being interviewed on Fox News by Jon Scott regarding the 2012 Benghazi attack, Ricks accused Fox News of being "extremely political" in its coverage of the attack and said that "Fox was operating as a wing of the Republican Party." The interview was subsequently cut short after only 90 seconds.[13]

Bibliography

Ricks' writings

  • The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008. Penguin Press. February 10, 2009. ISBN 1-59420-197-8.
  • Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq. Penguin. 2006. ISBN 0-14-303891-5.
  • A Soldier's Duty: A Novel. Random House. 2001. ISBN 0-375-50544-X.
  • Making the Corps. Scribner. 1997. ISBN 0-684-83109-0.
  • The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today. Penguin Press. 2012. ISBN 1594204047.
  • On American Soil: the Widening Gap between the U.S. Military and U.S. Society. Project on U.S. Post Cold-War Civil-Military Relations (Technical report). John M. Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University. May 1996.
  • Contributor to the Atlantic Monthly and other periodicals

Works about Ricks

  • Booklist, October 15, 1997, Gilbert Taylor, review of Making the Corps, p. 368; May 1, 2001, Gilbert Taylor, review of A Soldier's Duty, p. 1668.
  • The Economist, August 19, 2006, "A Litany of Abuse: America and Iraq," review of Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, p. 71.http://www.economist.com/node/7791940
  • Harvard Crimson Review of Fiasco [1]
  • Insight on the News, December 15, 1997, Woody West, review of Making the Corps, p. 36.
  • Library Journal, May 1, 2001, Robert Conroy, review of A Soldier's Duty, p. 127.
  • Fred Rhodes (November 1, 2006). "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq.(Brief article)(Book review)". The Middle East. p. 64. {{cite news}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  • Middle East Policy, winter, 2006, W. Patrick Lang, review of Fiasco, p. 154.
  • Military Review, September–October 2006, Brian C. McNemey, review of Fiasco, p. 115.
  • National Review, September 11, 2006, Bing West, "Iraq: Phase One," review of Fiasco, p. 42.
  • New York Times, July 25, 2006, Michiko Kakutani, "From Planning to Warfare to Occupation, How Iraq Went Wrong," review of Fiasco, p. E1. [2]
  • New York Times Book Review, August 13, 2006, Jacob Heilbrunn, "Eyes Wide Shut," review of Fiasco, p. 1, and Dwight Garner, "TBR: Inside the List," review of Fiasco, p. 1; December 3, 2006, "100 Notable Books of the Year," review of Fiasco, p. 14.
  • Cook, Martin L. (Autumn 2001). "review of A Soldier's Duty". Parameters. XXXI (3). U.S. Army War College: 173. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  • Policy Review, December 2006, Victor Davis Hanson, "Whose Fiasco?," review of Fiasco, p. 89.
  • Publishers Weekly, October 6, 1997, review of Making the Corps, p. 65; April 20, 2001, review of A Soldier's Duty, p. 53.
  • TIME, December 25, 2006, Steve Koepp and Mark Thompson, "The Real War," interview with Thomas E. Ricks, p. 158.
  • Washington Monthly, October 2006, Joseph Galloway, review of Fiasco, p. 60; March 2007, review of Fiasco, p. 66.
  • Weekly Standard, August 7, 2006, Max Boot, "Battle for Baghdad: Lessons Learned from the War in Iraq," review of Fiasco.

Interviews

References

  1. ^ a b Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Document Number: H1000132733. Fee. Accessed 2009-12-01 via Fairfax County Public Library.
  2. ^ a b Medak-Seguin, Becquer (April 2, 2009). "Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Ricks on campus". Pioneer. Walla Walla, Washington: Whitman College. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  3. ^ "Anne Ricks Is Engaged". New York Times. February 13, 1983. Retrieved December 1, 2009. Miss Ricks, a senior at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, attended the American International School in Kabul, Afghanistan, and graduated from the University of Michigan. ... The bride-to-be is a granddaughter of the late Richard Manning Russell, Mayor of Cambridge, Mass., and a great-granddaughter of William Eustis Russell, Mayor of Cambridge and Governor of Massachusetts
  4. ^ a b "Scarsdale Alumni Association - Distinguished Alumni". Scarsdale Alumni Association, Inc. Retrieved December 2, 2009. 2007 Distinguished Alumni ... TOM RICKS '73 – JOURNALIST
  5. ^ a b "Tom Ricks". Washington Post. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007. Retrieved March 18, 2008. Born in Massachusetts in 1955, he grew up in New York and Afghanistan and graduated from Yale in 1977. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ http://ricks.foreignpolicy.com/ Ricks' current blog at ForeignPolicy.com
  7. ^ "Thomas E. Ricks". Washington, D.C.: Center for a New American Security. Retrieved December 1, 2009.
  8. ^ "Thomas E. Ricks". New York, NY: Penguin Speakers Bureau. Retrieved December 3, 2009.
  9. ^ http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3057000133/ricks-thomas-e-1955.html
  10. ^ "5 Years Ago This Month at aisk.org". AISK - American International School of Kabul. May 18, 2006. Retrieved December 2, 2009. Tom Ricks (1968-70), a Scorpion
  11. ^ a b Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Gale, 2009. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/BioRC. Document Number: H1000082835. Fee. Accessed 2009-12-01 via Fairfax County Public Library.
  12. ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes - Finalists". pulitzer.org.
  13. ^ "Tom Ricks to Fox News: The network operates 'as a wing of the Republican Party'". POLITICO.
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