William Langewiesche
International Correspondent for Vanity Fair & Author; National Magazine Award Winner
William Langewiesche is an American author and journalist who was also a professional airplane pilot for many years. Since 2006 he has been the international correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine.
Langewiesche is currently the international correspondent for the magazine Vanity Fair, a position he has held since 2006. Prior to that, he was the national correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly magazine where he was nominated for eight consecutive National Magazine Awards. He has written articles covering a wide range of topics from shipbreaking, wine critics, the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, modern ocean piracy, nuclear proliferation, and the World Trade Center cleanup.
Langewiesche grew up in Princeton, New Jersey, and attended college in California, where he received a degree in cultural anthropology from Stanford University. He spent much of his time on various jobs flying airplanes, a skill he had acquired because of his family background.
After college Langewiesche moved to New York City and went to work as a writer for Flying, a large-circulation publication for general aviation pilots. While there he wrote technical reports on the flight characteristics of various airplanes, and profiles of people. In his mid-twenties, he quit the job in order to write books—one non-fiction, and two novels—none of which were published.
He continued to travel and write, supporting himself by flying airplanes. The travels eventually took Langewiesche to the most remote parts of the Sahara desert and sub-Saharan West Africa. This became the subject of a cover story for The Atlantic Monthly, in 1991, and later of a book titled Sahara Unveiled. The Atlantic sent Langewiesche to many parts of the world and increasingly into conflict zones. In 2006, while living in Baghdad to cover the Iraq war, Langewiesche left The Atlantic and went to work for Vanity Fair.
After the attacks of 9/11, Langewiesche was the only journalist given full unrestricted access to the World Trade Center site. He stayed there for nearly six months and produced "American Ground", a serialized report in The Atlantic Monthly. "American Ground" became a New York Times national bestselling book.
Langewiesche's 2007 article "Jungle Law" involved him in the controversy surrounding Chevron Corporation and Steven R. Donziger.
Related Speakers View all
![]() |
Julian Baggini
Julian Baggini is the author of several books about ...
|
![]() |
Anna Holmes
Founder and Editor of Online Women's Magazine, Jezeb...
|
![]() |
Jeffrey Kluger
Journalist; Editor and Writer at TIME MAGAZINE. Auth...
|
![]() |
Jennifer McGaha
Award-Winning Author, Educator & Joy Advocate
|
![]() |
Michiko Kakutani
Bestselling Author & Former Chief Book Critic at The...
|
![]() |
Ron Carucci
Leadership Consultant; Founding Partner at Passages ...
|
![]() |
Ken McAlpine
American Fiction, Non-fiction and Essay Author
|
![]() |
Jenny Blake
Career & Business Strategist; Author of "Pivot: The ...
|
![]() |
Tim Federle
Award-Winning Writer, Former Broadway Dancer
|
![]() |
Janine di Giovanni
Author, Award-Winning Foreign & War Correspondent; V...
|
![]() |
Greg McKeown
CEO of THIS Inc., Social Innovator & NYT Best-Sellin...
|
![]() |
Diane Brady
Executive Director at Fortune Live Media; Editorial ...
|
![]() |
Bob Woodward
Legendary Pulitzer Prize-Winning Investigative Journ...
|
![]() |
Mark Victor Hansen
Co-Author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, Entrepreneur...
|
![]() |
Sean West
Entrepreneur, Analyst & Educator; Author of "Unruly:...
|
![]() |
Louis Theroux
Award-Winning Documentarian, Journalist, Broadcaster...
|
![]() |
Amanda Miller Littlejohn
Executive Coach & Personal Brand Strategist; Author ...
|
![]() |
Gaia Vince
Award-Winning Science Writer; Environmental Journali...
|
![]() |
Amalaonye Josephine Kachikwu
CEO of GIA Media Services, Greatness Coach & Brand S...
|
![]() |
Sejal Shah
Award-Winning Author of "This is One Way to Dance"
|