Steve Coll
A Pulitzer-winning journalist who masterfully unravels the dense, secretive networks of power, from the CIA to Big Oil and Silicon Valley.
Born 1958 (age 68)·Journalist, author, academic, and business executive·Birthday: October 8·Baby Boomers
Biography
Steve Coll's reporting has long operated at the intersection of immense power and profound consequence. He cut his teeth at The Washington Post, where he served as foreign editor and later managing editor, steering coverage through the post-9/11 era. But his deepest impact comes from his meticulous, book-length investigations. His landmark work, 'Ghost Wars,' chronicled the CIA's involvement in Afghanistan leading to the September 11 attacks, winning him a Pulitzer Prize. He turned that same forensic lens to the global oil industry in 'Private Empire,' dissecting ExxonMobil's influence, and later to the digital age with 'The Achilles Trap,' a deep history of Saddam Hussein, and his work on Facebook. As dean of the Columbia Journalism School and a staff writer at The New Yorker, Coll champions a model of slow, deeply reported narrative that seeks to explain how the world truly works.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Steve was born in 1958, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Steve Was Born
The biggest hits of 1958
#1 Movie
South Pacific
Best Picture
Gigi
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Steve's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1958Born
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1963Started school
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1971Became a teenager
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1974Could drive
Nixon resigns the presidency
Gas: $0.53/galHome: $22,600Min wage: $2.00/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"The Way We Were" — Barbra StreisandBest Picture: The Godfather Part II
1976Could vote
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1979Turned 21
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1988Turned 30
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 40
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2008Turned 50
Barack Obama elected first Black US president; financial crisis
Gas: $3.27/galHome: $153,100Min wage: $6.55/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Low" — Flo RidaBest Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2018Turned 60
Royal wedding of Harry and Meghan; Parkland shooting
Gas: $2.72/galHome: $211,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"God's Plan" — DrakeBest Picture: Green Book
2026Age 68 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 2005 for 'Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and bin Laden'.
- Authored the definitive study of ExxonMobil, 'Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power'.
- Served as the dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism from 2013 to 2023.
- Has been a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine since 2005.
Did You Know?
He was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in a family of journalists.
He worked as a bank teller before beginning his career in journalism.
He is a two-time winner of the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for nonfiction.
“The hardest stories to tell are the ones where the official record is a form of fiction.”
