Joshua Hammer

For the political commentator and media host, see Josh Hammer.

Joshua Ives Hammer is an American content creator and foreign freelance correspondent and bureau chief for Newsweek and in Europe. He has also written several books, including the best-selling The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu in 2016.

Joshua Hammer
Born	Joshua Ives Hammer New York, New York, United States
Occupation	Journalist, foreign correspondent
Language	English
Nationality	American

Early life and education

Hammer was born to a Jewish family,^[1] and attended the Horace Mann School in Riverdale section of The Bronx.^[2] He obtained his B.A in English Literature from Princeton University in 1979 where he was Cum Laude.^[2]

Career

Hammer has worked as a foreign correspondent.^[3]

While at Newsweek he was the Nairobi Bureau Chief from 1993 to 1996, the South American Bureau Chief from 1996 to 1997, the Los Angeles Bureau Chief from 1997 to 2001, the Berlin Bureau Chief from 2000 to 2001, and the Jerusalem Bureau Chief.^[4][5]

His articles have appeared in such publications as The New York Review of Books, The New Yorker and Smithsonian.^[6][7]

Personal life

Hammer and the photographer Gary Knight were kidnapped in the Gaza Strip in 2001.^[8]

Hammer has three sons and as of 2013 was residing with his family in Berlin, Germany.^[6]

Bibliography

Books

• Chosen by God : a brother's journey. New York: Hyperion. 1999.
• A season in Bethlehem : unholy war in a sacred place. 2003.
• Yokohama Burning: The Deadly 1923 Earthquake and Fire that Helped Forge the Path to World War II, 2006^[3]
• The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, 2016^[9]
• The Falcon Thief: A True Tale of Adventure, Treachery, and the Hunt for the Perfect Bird, 2020^[10]
• The Mesopotamian Riddle: An Archaeologist, a Soldier, a Clergyman, and the Race to Decipher the World's Oldest Writing, 2025^[11]

Articles

• "Frenemies of state : fear and loathing in Zimbabwe's shaky unity government". Dispatches. Politics. The Atlantic. 304 (5): 23–24. December 2009.
• "The contenders : is Egypt's Presidential race becoming a real contest?". Letter from Cairo. The New Yorker. 86 (8): 28–34. April 5, 2010.
• "Rio revolution". Smithsonian. 43 (9): 44–53. January 2013.^[12]
• "How do You Solve a Problem Like Amazon?" American Affairs (August 2021)