Monte Reel

Monte Reel is an American author and journalist. His narrative nonfiction books include The Last of the Tribe (2010), Between Man and Beast (2013), and A Brotherhood of Spies (2018).{{Cite web|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/127388/monte-reel|title=Monte Reel |website=Penguin Random House|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-01}} From 2004 to 2008, he was the South America correspondent for The Washington Post and previously, he wrote for The Washington Post in Washington and Iraq.

Career

His newspaper career began at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.{{cite news |last1=Reel |first1=Monte |title=Bosnians put down roots in St. Louis |url=https://www.stltoday.com/bosnians-put-down-roots-in-st-louis/article_f6e054b2-30a1-52f9-98bb-7de620358c4c.html |access-date=26 April 2022 |work=STLtoday.com |date=1998-10-25 |language=en}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/authors/Monte-Reel/47909714|title=Monte Reel|website=Simon & Schuster|language=en|access-date=2018-04-01}}

In 1999-2000, while at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he was awarded a Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, for Arabic studies and narrative writing.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/12/us/four-universities-announce-their-journalism-fellowships.html|title=Four Universities Announce Their Journalism Fellowships|date=1999-05-12|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-04-01|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}{{cite web |last1=DeGroat |first1=Bernard |title=18 journalists here on sabbaticals |url=https://www.ur.umich.edu/9900/Sep07_99/7.htm |website=The University Record |publisher=Office of the Vice President for Communications, The Regents of the University of Michigan |access-date=26 April 2022 |date=September 7, 1999}}{{cite web |title=1999-2000 Fellows |url=https://wallacehouse.umich.edu/knight-wallace/our-fellows/1999-2000/ |website=Wallace House |access-date=26 April 2022 |quote=Wallace House at the University of Michigan; 620 Oxford Road Ann Arbor, Michigan; Home of the Knight-Wallace Fellowships for Journalists and the Livingston Awards}}

He was The Washington Post’s correspondent in South America from 2004 to 2008, and previously he wrote for the newspaper in Washington and Iraq.

Reel's longform journalism has appeared The New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Outside, Bloomberg Businessweek, and other magazines. His essays have been featured in The Best American Travel Writing series and the Pushcart Prize anthologies. {{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/william-t-vollmann/best-american-travel-writing-2012/|title=THE BEST AMERICAN TRAVEL WRITING 2012 by William T. Vollmann |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/961956305|title=Pushcart prize XLI, 2017: best of the small presses|last1=Henderson|first1=Bill|last2=Pushcart Press|date=2017|language=English|oclc=961956305}}

Books

= ''The Last of the Tribe'' =

{{cite book |title=The last of the tribe : the epic quest to save a lone man in the Amazon |date=2010 |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |isbn=9781416594758 |edition=1 |url=https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/The-Last-of-the-Tribe/Monte-Reel/9781416594758}}

The Last of the Tribe (Scribner, 2010) focuses on the search and discovery of the last surviving member of an uncontacted indigenous tribe in the Brazilian Amazon. The San Francisco Chronicle called it "Avatar for grown-ups” and praised the book for being “expertly told: perfectly timed, thoroughly researched and descriptively written."{{Cite news|url=https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/The-Last-of-the-Tribe-by-Monte-Reel-3261197.php|title='The Last of the Tribe,' by Monte Reel|work=SFGate|access-date=2018-04-01}} The story was optioned for the screen by Doug Liman, Chockstone Pictures.{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/2010/film/news/doug-liman-finds-epic-quest-1118021711/|title=Doug Liman finds 'Epic Quest'|last=Siegel|first=Tatiana|date=2010-07-14|work=Variety|access-date=2018-04-01|language=en-US}}{{cite news |last1=Henderson |first1=Jane |title='Last of the Tribe' optioned for movie |url=https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/article_e44705f0-860d-11df-836e-00127992bc8b.html |access-date=26 April 2022 |work=STLtoday.com |language=en}}

= ''Between Man and Beast'' =

Between Man and Beast (Doubleday 2013) tells the story of Paul Du Chaillu, a young 19th century explorer who emerged from expeditions in Africa with the first specimens of the gorilla – an animal that previously was the subject of myth and legend. Du Chaillu’s adventures, both in the jungle and in the showrooms of Europe and the United States, coincided with the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, and they helped ignite the evolution debate.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/books/review/between-man-and-beast-by-monte-reel.html|title='Between Man and Beast,' by Monte Reel|last=Quammen|first=David|date=2013-04-04|work=The New York Times|access-date=2018-04-01|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} The book was selected as one of the Best Books of 2013 by Amazon.{{Cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/s?rh=n%3A7756016011&fs=true|title=Nonfiction - Best Books of 2013: Books|website=Amazon.com|access-date=2018-04-01}} Nature called it “a supremely entertaining, enlightening and memorable read,”{{Cite book|url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/208464/between-man-and-beast-by-monte-reel/9780307742438/|title=Between Man and Beast by Monte Reel |publisher= Penguin Random House |language=en-US}} and the San Antonio Express-News remarked that “the mind staggers to recall that this story is a work of nonfiction.” {{Cite news|url=https://www.mysanantonio.com/entertainment/books/article/Gorillas-in-the-mists-of-history-4427759.php|title=Gorillas in the mists of history|work=San Antonio Express-News|access-date=2018-04-01}}

= ''A Brotherhood of Spies'' =

A Brotherhood of Spies (Doubleday 2018) tells the story of the U-2 spy plane and explores how it forever changed the nature and scope of American espionage. The story focuses on four individuals involved in the plane’s development: Edwin Land, the founder of Polaroid; CIA officer Richard M. Bissell Jr.; Clarence “Kelly” Johnson, Lockheed’s chief engineer; and Francis Gary Powers, a pilot recruited by the CIA to fly the U-2. In a pre-publication review, Publishers Weekly wrote that “this exemplary work provides a wholly satisfying take on a central chapter of the Cold War – a dramatic story of zeal and adventure.”{{Cite news|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-385-54020-9|title=Nonfiction Book Review: A Brotherhood of Spies: The U-2 and the CIA's Secret War by Monte Reel. Doubleday, $27.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-385-54020-9|work=Publishers Weekly |access-date=2018-04-01|language=en}}

Awards

2018 Overseas Press Club Morton Frank Award for international magazine writing {{Cite web|url=https://opcofamerica.org/overseas-press-club-of-america-announces-annual-award-winners/|title=Overseas Press Club of America Announces Annual Award Winners|date=2018-03-21|website=Overseas Press Club of America|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-10}}
2017 Gerald Loeb Award for Explanatory business journalism for "Superbug Spreaders"{{Cite web |url=https://blogs.anderson.ucla.edu/anderson/2017/06/ucla-anderson-school-of-management-announces-2017-gerald-loeb-award-winners.html |title=UCLA Anderson School of Management Announces 2017 Gerald Loeb Award Winners |date=June 27, 2017 |website=UCLA Anderson School of Management |access-date=January 31, 2019}}
2005 Selden Ring Award for investigative reporting {{Cite web|url=https://news.usc.edu/23725/Washington-Post-Wins-Selden-Ring-Award/ |title=Washington Post Wins Selden Ring Award|date=2005-02-23|website=University of Southern California News |quote=Reporters and editors from The Washington Post have won the 2005 Selden Ring Award for Investigative Reporting for their series exposing lead contamination in the District of Columbia water supply and the failure of public officials to inform and protect residents. |language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-10}}