Monte Reel
Monte Reel | |
|---|---|
| Born | United States |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, journalist |
| Years active | 1990s–present |
| Known for | Narrative nonfiction books: The Last of the Tribe, Between Man and Beast, A Brotherhood of Spies |
| Notable work | The Last of the Tribe, Between Man and Beast, A Brotherhood of Spies |
Monte Reel is an American writer and journalist recognized for his narrative nonfiction works, including The Last of the Tribe (2010), Between Man and Beast (2013), and A Brotherhood of Spies (2018). Between 2004 and 2008, he was the South America correspondent for The Washington Post, and he also reported for the publication from Washington and Iraq.
Career
Reel launched his journalism profession at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. During 1999-2000, he was awarded a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan, focusing on Arabic language studies and narrative writing techniques.
His longform journalistic contributions have appeared in esteemed outlets such as The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, as well as Outside and Bloomberg Businessweek. Additionally, his essays have been featured in collections like The Best American Travel Writing and Pushcart Prize anthologies.
The Last of the Tribe
Published by Scribner in 2010, The Last of the Tribe explores the quest to find the final surviving member of a previously uncontacted indigenous group in Brazil’s Amazon region. The San Francisco Chronicle lauded it as "Avatar for grown-ups" with "expertly told" storytelling. The narrative attracted film interest, with Doug Liman of Chockstone Pictures securing adaptation rights.
Between Man and Beast
Between Man and Beast (Doubleday, 2013) details the 19th-century explorer Paul Du Chaillu’s identification of the gorilla species, a discovery contemporaneous with Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, which intensified debates on evolution. The book was named one of Amazon’s Best Books of 2013 and earned praise from Nature for being “entertaining, enlightening and memorable,” as well as recognition from the San Antonio Express-News as a gripping work of nonfiction.
A Brotherhood of Spies
Released by Doubleday in 2018, A Brotherhood of Spies narrates the creation of the U-2 spy plane and its profound influence on American espionage. The book focuses on four pivotal individuals: Edwin Land, founder of Polaroid; CIA officer Richard M. Bissell Jr.; Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, Lockheed’s chief engineer; and pilot Francis Gary Powers, who was recruited by the CIA for U-2 missions. Publishers Weekly commended it as “a wholly satisfying take on a central chapter of the Cold War.”
Awards
- 2018 Overseas Press Club Morton Frank Award recognizing international magazine writing
- 2017 Gerald Loeb Award for Explanatory business journalism awarded for "Superbug Spreaders"
- 2005 Selden Ring Award honoring investigative reporting
Personal life
As reported in 2018, Monte Reel lived in Buenos Aires with his wife and daughter.
See also
External links
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 21st-century American journalists
- American male journalists
- Year of birth missing (living people)
- Living people
- Bloomberg L.P. people
- The Washington Post journalists
- American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American writers
- Gerald Loeb Award winners for Explanatory