Sebastian Junger - Background

Background

Junger was born in Belmont, Massachusetts, the son of Ellen Sinclair, a painter, and Miguel Chapero Junger, a physicist. His father was born in Dresden, Germany, of Russian, Austrian, Spanish, and Italian descent; he came to the United States during World War II because his own father had been Jewish. Junger grew up in the neighborhood of the Boston Strangler, which later inspired his 2006 book A Death in Belmont about the event.

He graduated from Concord Academy in 1980 and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University in cultural anthropology in 1984.

In 1997, with the publication of his work, The Perfect Storm, he was touted as a new Hemingway, and helped usher a renewed interest in adventure non-fiction. He received a National Magazine Award in 2000 for "The Forensics of War," published in Vanity Fair, where he still works as a contributing editor. In early 2007 he reported from Nigeria on the subject of blood oil. With photographer Tim Hetherington, Junger received the DuPont-Columbia Award for broadcast journalism for his work on The Other War: Afghanistan, produced with ABC News and Vanity Fair, which appeared on Nightline in September 2008.

His most recent book, War, revolves around Junger's time spent with a United States Army platoon of the 173rd Airborne in Afghanistan. Junger, along with Hetherington, used material gathered in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan for the book and to create a documentary feature Restrepo which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won the Grand Jury Prize for a domestic documentary at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010. On April 27, 2011, Junger was presented with the "Leadership in Entertainment Award" by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) for his work on Restrepo.

He lives with his wife Daniela in New York City, New York, where he co-owns a bar called The Half-King.