Andrea Elliott

Pulitzer Prize-Winning New York Times Reporter

Muslims in America

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Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Andrea Elliott is among the most distinguished chroniclers of Muslim life in America. Her penetrating, deeply-observed stories in The New York Times have brought international attention to the plight of Muslims in a post-9/11 America. Gaining unparalleled access to the nation's Muslim communities, Elliott's stories have explored the travails of a young Egyptian imam in Brooklyn, the challenges of Muslim men and women serving in the American military and the simmering conflicts between Muslim immigrants and African-American converts to Islam. In her work overseas, Elliott has broken new ground in the study of terrorism, illuminating how young Muslim men are being drawn into the violent jihad against the West.

Elliott's coverage of Islam in America earned her the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for feature writing, along with many other awards, and is featured in "Best Newspaper Writing of 2007." This year, her New York Times Magazine cover story on the radicalization of young men in Morocco won the Overseas Press Club award for best magazine reporting from abroad and was a finalist for the National Magazine Award. In her citation, the judges for the Overseas Press Club wrote, "Her account, beautifully written, provides an unparalleled look into the making of terrorists and is a reporting tour de force." Elliott has appeared on The Charlie Rose Show, the NPR shows Fresh Air and Talk of the Nation, CNN and the BBC. She has lectured widely.

Andrea Elliott Speech Topics

Islam in a Post-9/11 America

Andrea Elliott transports her audiences into the little-known world of American Islam -- a community in search of itself, still reeling from the attacks of September 11^th and the backlash that followed. As terrorism in the name of Islam thrives overseas, Muslims in America are engaged in an urgent quest to reclaim their faith. At the same time, they have reckoned with harsh, new scrutiny, from mass detentions and ethnic profiling to news media coverage that has routinely characterized Muslims as untrustworthy and even dangerous. Elliott mixes gripping anecdotes with careful analysis to paint a nuanced and unforgettable portrait of today's Muslim Americans: alienated teenagers seeking refuge in their faith, women at the fore of a growing feminist movement, religious leaders striving to balance the strictures of Islam with the dizzying pressures of contemporary American culture. Elliott's lecture, which can range in focus depending on the needs of the audience, traces the evolution of America's Muslims -- who they are and how they identify politically, socially and religiously. In the process, she explains what their struggles in America tell us about the broader crisis within Islam and why America's ability to absorb Muslim immigrants might portend a more hopeful future than in Europe.

The Roots of Terrorism: A Moroccan Case Study

What makes a terrorist? Law enforcement agents, academics and journalists have devoted themselves tirelessly to this question in the years since Sept. 11, giving rise to innumerable theories. Experts have variously blamed poverty, religion, Arab nationalism and repressive regimes. But in the study of contemporary terrorism, there has never been a laboratory quite like the small Moroccan neighborhood of Jamaa Mezuak, in the city of Tetouan. In a span of barely three years, the neighborhood produced five of the plotters responsible for the Madrid train bombings and five other young men who set off for Iraq to fight with Al Qaeda. Elliott spent months investigating this story, gaining unprecedented access to these terrorists' families and friends, as well as to high-level Moroccan and United States government officials. In her lecture, Elliott provides an up-close and surprising look at how these men wound up on the path to radicalization. Her reporting supports a new theory that is gaining currency in law enforcement circles: that friendship and peer pressure play a powerful role in the shaping of terrorists.

VIDEOS

ARTICLES

"A Muslim Leader in Brooklyn, Reconciling 2 Worlds" - From the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times Series, "An Imam in America"

Muslims in America: Selected Stories by Andrea Elliott, at The New York Times

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