Richard Engel is Jewish. The American television journalist and author is best known as NBC News's chief foreign correspondent. Engel was assigned to that position after being the network's Middle East correspondent and Beirut Bureau chief. Before joining NBC News, he covered the start of the 2003 war in Iraq from Baghdad for ABC News as a freelance journalist.
Richard Engel grew up in a Jewish family on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. He was diagnosed with dyslexia as a child. He has an older brother who is a cardiologist. His father is a former Goldman Sachs financier. His mother Nina used to run an antiques store.
Engel reads and speaks Arabic fluently and is also fluent in Italian and Spanish. He has published two books. "A Fist in the Hornet's Nest" is about his experience covering the Iraq War from Baghdad and his most recent book "War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq" is a sequel to the first publication.
Richard Engel was been missing in Syria for a week along with Turkish correspondent for NBC, Aziz Akyavas when the two were taken hostage. The hostages were subsequently released on December 18, 2012.
Engel reads and speaks Arabic fluently and is also fluent in Italian and Spanish. He has published two books. "A Fist in the Hornet's Nest" is about his experience covering the Iraq War from Baghdad and his most recent book "War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq" is a sequel to the first publication.
Richard Engel was been missing in Syria for a week along with Turkish correspondent for NBC, Aziz Akyavas when the two were taken hostage. The hostages were subsequently released on December 18, 2012.
