William Langewiesche

William Langewiesche, who died in 2025, was a national correspondent for The Atlantic and a professional pilot. He wrote about many subjects for the magazine, including aviation, national security, and the Middle East.

“Enclosed are Two Pieces on Algeria.” With those words, typed on plain white bond, Langewiesche introduced himself to the editors of The Atlantic. Although neither piece quite stood on its own, the editors were drawn to the unusual grace and power of Langewiesche’s writing and sent him on assignment to North Africa for a more ambitious piece of reporting. The result was the November 1991 cover story, “The World in Its Extreme”—his first article to appear in a general-interest magazine. (He had, however, written frequently for aviation magazines; he is a professional pilot and first sat at the controls of an airplane at the age of 5.) That article grew into his book Sahara Unveiled: A Journey Across the Desert (1996). Langewiesche went on to report on a diversity of subjects and publish four more books.

A large part of Mr. Langewiesche’s reporting experience centered around the Middle East and the Islamic world. He traveled widely throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa, reporting on such topics as the implementation of the shari’a in Sudan under Hassan al-Tarabi, North Africa’s Islamic culture, and the American occupation of Iraq. Other assignments took him to Egypt, the Balkans, India, and Central and South America. In 2004 he won a National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting.

In 2002 his book American Ground: Unbuilding the World Trade Center was published. It is based on a series of three cover stories he wrote for The Atlantic as the only American reporter granted full access to the World Trade Center clean-up effort. His book The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime was published in May 2004.