David D. Kirkpatrick
David D. Kirkpatrick (born 1970) is an American, London-based international correspondent for "The New York Times". From 2011 through 2015, he served as its Cairo bureau chief and a Middle East correspondent. Early life and education. Kirkpatrick was born in 1970 in Buffalo, New York. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and American studies at Princeton University, graduating "magna cum laude", and attended the graduate program in American studies at Yale University. Professional career. He started in the media group at "The New York Times" in June 2000. During the United States presidential  election of 2004, he was assigned to create a "conservative beat" for "The New York Times", with a special focus on religious conservatives. The assignment raised eyebrows among some on the right because of the newspaper's liberal reputation and editorials. In addition to the Washington, National, and Media desks of the Times, he has written for "The New York Times Magazine" as well as "New York" magazine. This included a series exposing plagiarism in non-fiction writing. On December 28, 2013, Kirkpatrick published a detailed account of the 2012 Benghazi attack titled "A Deadly Mix in Benghazi". Based on  extensive interviews with Libyan witnesses and American officials, the article concluded that the attack began as neither a spontaneous protest nor an Al Qaeda plot. It was a planned attack carried out by local Islamist militants, and it was inspired in part by an American-made online video ridiculing Islam. Kirkpatrick was denied entry into Egypt on February 18, 2019, and sent back to London the following day after Egyptian authorities held him for hours at Cairo International Airport. Section::::"Into the Hands of Soldiers". Kirkpatrick's book, "Into the Hands of the Soldiers: Freedom and Chaos in Egypt and the  Middle East", (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018,) narrates the author's notes on how and why the Arab Spring sparked, then failed, focusing on America's role in that failure and the subsequent military coup that put Sisi in power. The Economist and the Financial Times both named it one of the best books published in 2018.