Nathan Thrall Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author and Journalist

Nathan Thrall is a distinguished American author, essayist, and journalist based in Jerusalem, renowned for his deep insights into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is best known for his 2023 nonfiction work, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy, which earned the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

Early Life and Education

Thrall is Jewish, and his mother is a Jewish émigrée from the Soviet Union. He pursued his academic foundations at the University of California, Santa Barbara's College of Creative Studies, where he earned a BA, and later obtained an MA in politics from Columbia University. To deepen his understanding of the region, he participated in Birthright Israel and studied Arabic and Hebrew at Tel Aviv University.

Professional Career

Thrall's professional journey began as a member of the editorial staff of The New York Review of Books. He was later hired by Robert Malley at the International Crisis Group, where he served as the director of the Arab-Israeli Project from 2010 to 2020. During this decade, he covered the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Israel's relations with its neighbors, living in Gaza at the start of his tenure.

As of 2021, he is a frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine, the London Review of Books, and The New York Review of Books. In November 2023, he joined the faculty of Bard College in New York state as a professor.

Notable Published Works

The Only Language They Understand

Thrall's first published book, The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine (2017), is an essay collection that received widespread critical acclaim. The book provides a critical analysis of the dynamics of Israeli-Palestinian relations and is cited as an essential guide to the history and ideas behind the conflict.

A Day in the Life of Abed Salama

His most acclaimed work, A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy (2023), is a work of non-fiction that weaves together the lives of several Palestinian inhabitants of Jerusalem. Centered around a man named Abed Salama, the book explores the tangled web of politics, history, and culture that ensnare the people of the region. The work was named a best book of 2023 by numerous publications, including The New Yorker, The Economist, and Time, and won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.

Journalism and Analysis

Thrall has written several influential pieces, including "The Separate Regimes Delusion," published in the London Review of Books in 2021. In this article, he argues against the premise that Israel is a democracy while maintaining a separate provisional occupation of the Palestinian territories. He has also written a detailed feature on Abed Salama for The New York Review of Books, which was described as an "astonishing feat of reporting" by Longreads.