Jason Burke

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Jason Burke
Born1970 (age 54–55)
OccupationJournalist, author
NationalityBritish
Alma mater University of Oxford
GenreNon-fiction
Notable works Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror
On the Road to Kandahar

Jason Burke (born 1970) is a British journalist and the author of several non-fiction books. As of 2016 he was a correspondent covering Africa for The Guardian , based in Johannesburg, having previously been based in New Delhi as the same paper's South Asia correspondent. [1] In his years of journalism, Burke has addressed a wide range of topics including politics, social affairs and culture in Europe and the Middle East. [1] [2] He has written extensively on Islamic extremism and, among numerous other conflicts, covered the wars of 2001 in Afghanistan and 2003 in Iraq, the latter of which he described as "entirely justifiable from a humanitarian perspective". [3]

Contents

In 2003, Burke wrote Al-Qaeda: Casting a Shadow of Terror , which was later updated and republished as Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam. Noam Chomsky described it as the "best book there is" on Al-Qaeda. [4] He was interviewed in the 2004 BBC documentary The Power of Nightmares . In 2006, he wrote On the Road to Kandahar: Travels through Conflict in the Islamic World .

Biography

Burke attended Oxford University. For four years, he held a position as an investigative reporter at the Sunday Times . [5] He relocated to Pakistan in 1998 to cover events there and in Afghanistan. During this period, he also travelled to Baghdad and Basra. Around 2000, he was hired by The Observer to serve as its chief foreign correspondent. [5] Since then, he has become the South Asia correspondent for The Guardian, The Observer's sister publication, as well. As of 2010, he was based in New Delhi.

Prior to his assignment to New Delhi, Burke was based in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Paris, [1] [5] but his work has taken him to many locations. According to a book review in 2006 in The Daily Telegraph , Burke "is one of the journalistic band of brothers whose job is to get to the trouble spots ahead of the TV crews and show the electronic media what it is all about". [6] His travels have included Gaza, Kurdistan, Thailand, Algeria, and Jordan, among others. [5] [6] He is the author of On the Road to Kandahar, and more recently the critically acclaimed The 9/11 Wars, released in October 2011.

Burke's book The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s was published in October 2025. [7] It was shortlisted for the 2025 Baillie Gifford Prize. [8]

Bibliography

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Jason Burke Profile". The Guardian . London. 28 October 2008. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "Worldview highlights: Jason Burke". London: The Observer. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  3. ↑ Burke, Jason (27 October 2009). "Think Again: Al Qaeda". Foreign Policy . Archived from the original on 20 June 2021. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  4. ↑ "Noam Chomsky". BBC News. 20 May 2004. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Al Shafey, Mohamed (22 May 2009). "Asharq Al-Awsat Talks to Jason Burke". Asharq Al-Awsat . Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  6. 1 2 Philps, Alan (25 June 2006). "The mosque militant". The Daily Telegraph . London. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  7. ↑ "The Revolutionists". Penguin Books . Retrieved 2 October 2025.
  8. ↑ Creamer, Ella (2 October 2025). "'Horny wolves, eunuchs and pirates' among Baillie Gifford prize shortlist subjects". The Guardian . Retrieved 2 October 2025.
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