Nick McDonell Books

Novelist and Time correspondent Nick McDonell brings this stunning account back from the latest iteration of the War in Iraq—an engrossing, ground-level report on the conflict still unfolding under its second commander-in-chief. Traveling to Baghdad and then to Mosul with the 1st Cavalry Division, McDonell offers an unforgettable look at the way things stand now—at the translators stranded in a country that doesn’t look kindly on their cooperation, at the infantrymen struggling to make something out of the soft counterinsurgency missions they call chai-ops , at the commanders inured to American journalists and Iraqi officials both—and what the so-called “end of major combat operations” means for where they’re going.

Mike was a lucky child: a vacation house on Long Island, famous family friends, an Ivy League education, and also an older brother, Lyle, who looked out for him. It's 2001, and Mike is a summer intern at a magazine in Hong Kong. Sent on assignment to Bangkok, Mike finds the city electric with violence and hedonism. Nothing goes according to plan. When terrible news about his brother arrives from home, Mike rushes back to the States. Lyle is unstable and suffering from visions of an imaginary third brother. And then, a clear September morning is broken by catastrophe. While the Twin Towers burn, Mike makes an epic trek through the ghostly streets of New York to find and save Lyle. From Patpong to the World Trade Center to Harvard Yard, as his life and country come apart, Mike struggles to find his footing and go on. The joke, it turns out, is on him

McDonell's third novel takes readers into Harvard through its dormitories and dining halls, into its elite finals clubs and lecture halls. "An Expensive Education" is a smart, relentless novel set at the troubled intersection of ivory academia and realpolitik.

Sold to 14 publishers around the world and receiving tremendous critical acclaim, "Twelve" was one of the most significant literary debuts of the year. A chilling novel of urban adolescence that is "both an indictment of excess and a cry of teenage loneliness" ("People("), it has appeared on multiple bestseller lists.

A bold exploration of the American elite, this work reveals how the ruling class, even with good intentions, perpetuates cycles of wealth, power, and injustice. Growing up on New York City's Upper East Side, Nick McDonell experienced a life of luxury, from sailing lessons in the Hamptons to school galas at the Met. After serving as a war correspondent in Iraq and Afghanistan, he returns to his privileged upbringing with unflinching honesty. Through vivid depictions of summer safaris, winter ski trips, and schoolyard dynamics, McDonell meticulously examines how wealth and power are hoarded and passed down through generations. He highlights the exclusion of outsiders—the poor, non-white communities, and suburbanites—who remain unaware of the mechanisms that sustain this elite class. With searing precision and a deeply human touch, the narrative delves into the challenges posed by America's one-percenters, whose aspirations for a more just world often fall short. The work raises critical questions about the nature of power, the identity of those who wield it, and the potential for sharing it, all through the lens of personal experience and cultural reflection.