About Kim Ghattas
Born 1977. Kim Ghattas is a Lebanese journalist and opinion journalist.
Kim Ghattas (; born 1977) is a Lebanese journalist based in Beirut who writes for The Atlantic. Previously, she covered the US State Department for the BBC. She is a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East, which The New York Times recognized as one of the "100 Notable Books of 2020." She is currently a writer for The Atlantic and a contributing editor to the Financial Times.
Life Ghattas was raised Christian in Lebanon during the 1975–1990 civil war. She attended the American University of Beirut, studying political science, while also interning at an English-language newspaper in Beirut. She then worked for the Financial Times and the BBC from Beirut. In early 2008, she moved to Washington, D.C. to take up a BBC post covering the US State Department.
In 2013, Ghattas wrote a book titled The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power about her travels with Hillary Clinton during Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State. She later covered Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign for the BBC. Ghattas's second book, Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East, is a post-1979 history of the Middle East.
Works The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton from Beirut to the Heart of American Power, Henry Holt and Company 2013. Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the Forty-Year Rivalry That Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East, Henry Holt in 2020.
Don’t just read it —
keep it.
Full-length biographies made to live with: read them, listen on the way to work, watch them tonight.
- E-book
- Audio
- Video
Instant download · yours to keep · every purchase keeps this site free
Important facts
People in Kim Ghattas's life
Named in this biography and alive at the same time
Contemporaries
People whose lives overlapped Kim Ghattas's
Frequently asked questions
Who is Kim Ghattas?
Dutch-Lebanese journalist
When was Kim Ghattas born?
Kim Ghattas was born in 1977 in Beirut.
What is Kim Ghattas's occupation?
Kim Ghattas is a journalist and opinion journalist.
What nationality is Kim Ghattas?
Kim Ghattas is Lebanese.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Kim Ghattas. https://biography.guide/kim-ghattas/
MLA: "Kim Ghattas." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/kim-ghattas/.
Chicago: "Kim Ghattas." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/kim-ghattas/.
Data last updated: 2026-09-20 · Spot an error? Report a correction.
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons · author & licence
Page generated 2026-09-27 04:57 UTC