Author Biography | Interview | Books by this Author | Read-Alikes
Margaret Coker is a prize-winning investigative journalist who, for the last nineteen years, has covered stories from thirty-two countries on four continents. Since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, Coker has largely focused on the Middle East, writing about corruption, counterterrorism, and cyber warfare. An ex-Baghdad Bureau Chief for the New York Times, she honed her reporting skills at The Wall Street Journal where she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize as part of a team chronicling Turkey's failed coup, political purges and teetering democracy. Her coverage of national security issues won the Overseas Press Club Award and the Edwin M. Hood Prize from the National Press Club, America's top prize for diplomatic reporting.
Margaret and her husband live in Savannah, Georgia, with their two dogs and cat. The Spymaster of Baghdad is her first book.
This bio was last updated on 01/29/2021. In a perfect world, we would like to keep all of BookBrowse's biographies up to date, but with many thousands of lives to keep track of it's simply impossible to do. So, if the date of this bio is not recent, you may wish to do an internet search for a more current source, such as the author's website or social media presence. If you are the author or publisher and would like us to update this biography, send the complete text and we will replace the old with the new.
Why did you decide to write a book about wartime espionage set in Baghdad?
Baghdad has never developed the glamour or mystic of other past wartime spy capitals—places like Paris, Casablanca, Berlin, or Saigon—in large part because unlike those other times and places, Americans who deployed and served there since 2003 have done it with a "shelter in place" ethos. Americans stayed behind embassy walls or within military bases and saw hostility in local neighborhoods and landscapes. Baghdad deserves a more nuanced and textured reputation in literature and history than it has had in the English-speaking world. It's one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in human history. It has a strong identity as a place of Arab literature and learning. It has one of the world's major rivers running through it. It has a geographically distinct cuisine. It has a vibrant, if embattled, diverse population. And for the last 17 years it has been ground zero for many intelligence battles in the war on terror.
Unlike other narratives, you focus on the role that Iraqis played in protecting their country and the world. Why was this important to you?
I grew up in a military family, where both parents and my uncles all served in the U....
Scott Carney is an investigative journalist and anthropologist, as well as the author of the New York Times bestseller What Doesn't Kill Us. He spent six years living in South Asia as a contributing editor for WIRED and ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Spymaster of Baghdad
Try:
The Vortex
by Scott Carney
Ava Homa is a writer, journalist, and activist specializing in women's issues and Middle Eastern affairs. She holds an MA in English and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor in Canada. Her collection of short ... (more)
If you enjoyed:
The Spymaster of Baghdad
Try:
Daughters of Smoke and Fire
by Ava Homa
We recommend 5 similar authors
Once We Were Home
by Jennifer Rosner
From the author of The Yellow Bird Sings, a novel based on the true stories of children stolen in the wake of World War II.
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
by Colleen Oakley
A “wildly surprising, entertaining ride of a novel.”
—Jodi Picoult
Last House Before the Mountain by Monika Helfer
A spellbinding, internationally bestselling family saga set in a fractured rural village in WWI Austria.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
