Evan Wright, “Generation Kill” and Rolling Stone author, dies at age 59

Evan Wright, the National Magazine Award-winning journalist and longtime Rolling Stone Contributor whose reporting on the Iraq War served as the basis for the book and television series Generation Killhas died at the age of 59. Wright’s wife confirmed his death to Rolling StoneThe cause of death was suicide.

As an author for Rolling StoneWright traveled to war zones such as Afghanistan and Iraq, providing harrowing first-hand accounts from the battlefields. Wright’s series of articles on Iraq – where he was stationed in a US Marine Corps battalion – was published in a series of Rolling Stone article entitled “The Killer Elite,” for which he received a National Magazine Award for Outstanding Reporting in 2004.

That same year, Wright expanded his coverage of “Killer Elite” for his book Generation Killwhich was later adapted by HBO as a miniseries The cable Creator David Simon in 2008; Wright served as a writer on the miniseries alongside Simon and Ed Burns and was portrayed in the series by actor Lee Tergesen.

In 2002, Rolling Stone published Wright’s true-crime article “Mad Dogs & Lawyers,” a story that intertwined murder, illegal dog breeding, and the California penal system. The article was later published in the following year’s issue of The best American crime novels for true crime.

During Wright’s time at Rolling StoneHe also wrote features on Shakira, Quentin Tarantino and boxer Lucia Rijker, investigated the secret lives of female students at Ohio State University, reported from the anarchist underground and described in detail the little-known circumstances behind Jimi Hendrix’s kidnapping by the Mafia; the latter was an excerpt from the book American Desperadowhich Wright wrote together with drug dealer Jon Roberts.

In addition to his time at Rolling StoneWright also wrote articles for Time And Vanity Fairand at the beginning of his career at Hustlerwhere he was the magazine’s main critic for pornographic films. His books also include the 2009 HellaNation and 2012 How to get away with murder in AmericaWright was most recently seen in the HBO documentary series Teen Torture Inc.where he revisited the Seed center for juvenile offenders where he was sent in his youth; this experience was also recorded in Wright’s book The Seed: A Memory.