Journalist and ‘Generation Kill’ Author Evan Wright Dies at 59

Evan Wright arrives at the HBO Films' premiere of the miniseries "Generation Kill" in Hollywood, Calif., on July 8, 2008. David Livingston/Getty Images

Evan Wright, the author of “Generation Kill,” a book that inspired the seven-part HBO miniseries of the same name, has died at the age of 59, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner has confirmed.

The award-winning journalist, who served as a contributor to Rolling Stone, among other publications, passed away at his residence on July 12. Mr. Wright’s wife, Kelli, confirmed his death with the magazine but did not share further details.

The medical examiner’s office has ruled his cause of death as a suicide.

The Ohio native attended New York’s prestigious Vassar College, where he graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in medieval and Renaissance studies, per Penguin Random House.

After beginning his journalism career as an entertainment editor for Hustler magazine, Mr. Wright became a features writer for Rolling Stone, contributing articles about various subcultures throughout the country.

As a storied war correspondent, Mr. Wright also provided riveting combat and military coverage for the magazine. In 2002, the embedded reporter chronicled the War in Afghanistan with the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division. The following year, he covered the invasion of Iraq alongside the Marines Corps’ 1st Reconnaissance Battalion.

Mr. Wright wrote about his experiences during the latter in a three-part series for Rolling Stone titled “The Killer Elite,” which won 2004’s National Magazine Award for excellence in reporting. The articles served as the basis for Mr. Wright’s book “Generation Kill,” which was published in June 2004.

Mr. Wright earned a second National Magazine Award in 2008 for excellence in profile writing for his Vanity Fair article, “Pat Dollard’s War on Hollywood,” published in March 2007.

He is also the author of 2009’s “Hella Nation,” 2011’s “American Desperado,” and 2012’s “How to Get Away With Murder in America.”

‘Teen Torture Inc.’

More recently, Mr. Wright was featured in HBO Max’s new three-part docuseries, “Teen Torture Inc.,” released on July 11, just one day before the author’s death.

“Teen Torture Inc.” focuses on alleged abuses within the country’s “troubled teen industry”—a multi-billion-dollar industry comprised of for-profit residential programs, such as boot camps and wilderness programs, which are used to treat a wide range of issues among teens, including drug addiction, depression, and bad behavior.

In the documentary, Mr. Wright recounted his experiences at The Seed, a now-defunct drug rehabilitation program that operated in various locations across South Florida.

“I was a 13 year old kid tryna escape a really abusive, alcoholic home --and instead -- as is really common in America -- I was branded a mentally-troubled criminal, threatened with incarceration and sent to a place of total horror and abuse that was funded by the government. This happened to me & about 9,000 other kids,” Mr. Wright wrote on X on July 3.

In the series, Danielle Bregoli, a rapper known as Bhad Bhabie, also reflected on her alleged traumatic experiences at Turn-About Ranch in Escalante, Utah.

“If you want to get your kid help, you need to find a better way to do it. This ... is only going to make your kid worse. They will come back with depression, they will come back with anxiety, and I have to live like this for the rest of my [expletive] life,” the 21-year-old said in the series, per the Chicago Sun-Times.

The day before his death, Mr. Wright addressed those who have spoken out against the “troubled teen industry.”

“Whenever I see victims of these programs speak out, I always think, ’that’s my brother or sister.' I feel a bond with anyone who went through this,” he wrote on X on July 11. “Then I saw Paris Hilton’s testimony & I realized, ‘Oh, [expletive] she’s my sister, too?’ But yes, it’s a big, messed up family of us.”

In June, media personality Paris Hilton testified before Congress, describing the alleged abuse she suffered at the Provo Canyon School, a private youth treatment facility in Provo, Utah, including claims that she was “force-fed medications and sexually abused by staff,” per the BBC.

Ms. Hilton urged lawmakers to reform facilities and treatment programs designed for “troubled” children and teens.

“I will continue to advocate until every child is safe, and shine a bright light on these abuses,” she posted on Instagram on June 26.

Tributes Pour In

News of Mr. Wright’s sudden death triggered an outpouring of tributes online.

Author David Simon, an executive producer and co-writer of 2008’s “Generation Kill” miniseries, took to X to share that the world had lost “a fine journalist and storyteller.”

“Evan’s contributions to the scripting and filming of Generation Kill were elemental,” he wrote on July 14. “He was charming, funny and not a little bit feral, as many reporters are. So many moments writing in Baltimore and on set in Africa to remember.”

Lt. Nathan Fick, who was featured in Mr. Wright’s “The Killer Elite” articles and subsequently portrayed in the HBO series, also issued a statement, calling the renowned reporter a “good and gentle guy in a place that was neither good nor gentle.”

“He wasn’t a Marine, but many of us who spent March and April 2003 alongside him have thought of Evan for the past two decades as one of us,” he added. “Rest in peace, brother.”

Mr. Wright is survived by his wife, three children, and two siblings.