David Grann

David Grann (born 1967) is an American journalist and nonfiction author renowned for his immersive investigations into historical mysteries, explorations, and crimes, often blending meticulous archival research with on-the-ground reporting. A staff writer at The New Yorker since 2003, he has earned two Sigma Delta Chi Awards for excellence in journalism from the Society of Professional Journalists .

Grann's breakthrough book, The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon (2009), chronicles British explorer Percy Fawcett's century-old quest for a vanished civilization in the Amazon, drawing on Fawcett's diaries and Grann's own jungle expeditions to reconstruct the perils of early 20th-century exploration . His 2017 work, Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI , exposes the systematic murders of oil-wealthy Osage Native Americans in 1920s Oklahoma and the nascent FBI's role in the case, serving as the basis for Martin Scorsese's 2023 film adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone , which received ten Academy Award nominations.

More recent titles include The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck , Mutiny and Murder (2023), a bestseller recounting the 1740s wreck of a British naval vessel and the ensuing survival ordeal and court-martial , which topped The New York Times nonfiction lists and highlighted themes of human endurance and institutional betrayal. Grann holds a B.A. in government from Connecticut College , an M.A. in international relations from Tufts University's Fletcher School, and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Boston University , credentials that underpin his rigorous, evidence-driven narrative style.

David Grann was born on March 10, 1967, in New York City and grew up in Westport, Connecticut , as the middle child in a family of three siblings, including an older brother, Edward, and a sister, Alison. His father, Victor Grann, was a prominent oncologist specializing in cancer treatment , while his mother, Phyllis E. Grann , was a trailblazing publishing executive who became the first female CEO of a major American trade publisher, G.P. Putnam's Sons , where she oversaw bestsellers by authors such as Tom Clancy .

The Grann household, immersed in intellectual pursuits, exposed young David to a world of books and narratives, shaped by his mother's profession in an industry centered on storytelling and editorial rigor. Phyllis Grann, known for her sharp instincts in spotting commercial hits, reportedly advised her son against entering writing, cautioning, "Don’t become a writer ," due to the field's uncertainties. Nevertheless, Grann exhibited an early affinity for writing, maintaining a personal journal during his childhood and receiving books as gifts from his grandmother on birthdays and holidays, which nurtured his fascination with literature.

His father's adventurous side, including recreational sailing ventures that occasionally courted danger such as approaching hurricanes, reflected a family tolerance for risk that paralleled the exploratory themes in Grann's later nonfiction works, though direct causation remains unstated in accounts of his development. This upbringing in a dual-professional household—medicine's precision alongside publishing's narrative drive—laid a foundation for Grann's eventual pivot to investigative journalism, despite initial familial reservations about the profession.

Grann earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in government from Connecticut College in 1989. During his undergraduate years, he focused on international relations and received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which funded a year of independent study in Mexico exploring indigenous myths and legends.

Following his bachelor's degree, Grann pursued graduate studies, obtaining a master's degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University .