Lesley Adele Hazleton (September 20, 1945 – April 29, 2024) was a British-American author and journalist. Born in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

, she began her career as a correspondent in Israel before moving to the United States in 1979. She wrote about a variety of subjects, including automobiles, history, politics, and religion. She wrote for ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', '' The Jerusalem Post'', and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', among other publications, and authored several books.

Background and education

Lesley Adele Hazleton was born to an Orthodox Jewish family in

, England, in 1945. She had two degrees in psychology (B.A. Manchester University, M.A.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

Career

Hazleton was based in Jerusalem from 1966 to 1979 and in New York City from 1979 to 1992. She later became a U.S. citizen. She reported from

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

for ''

'' and '' The Jerusalem Post'', and wrote about the Middle East for numerous publications including ''

'', '' The New York Review of Books'', '' Harper's'', '' The Nation'', and ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

''. She wrote about automobiles for the '' Detroit Free Press''. Hazleton described herself as "a Jew who once seriously considered becoming a rabbi, a former convent schoolgirl who daydreamed about being a nun, an agnostic with a deep sense of religious mystery though no affinity for organized religion". "Everything is paradox," she said. "The danger is one-dimensional thinking". In April 2010, she launched The Accidental Theologist, a blog casting "an agnostic eye on religion, politics, and existence." In September 2011, she received '' The Strangers Genius Award in Literature and in fall 2012, she was the Inaugural Scholar-in-Residence at Town Hall Seattle. She wrote books about figures in multiple major religions. Her last book, ''Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto,'' was a ''Publishers Weekly'' most-anticipated book of spring 2016. It was praised by ''The New York Times'' as "vital and mischievous" and as "wide-ranging... yet intimately grounded in our human, day-to-day life."

Personal life and death

In 1992, Hazleton moved to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, where she lived on a floating home. Diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer, she exercised her right to not pursue treatment, and died via MAiD (medical aid in dying) at her home on April 29, 2024, at the age of 78.

Books

On religion and politics: * ''Agnostic: A Spirited Manifesto'' 2016 (New York Times Editors' Choice) * ''The First Muslim: The Story of

Muhammad Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

'' (2013) (New York Times Editors' Choice) * ''After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split'' (2009) (Finalist: 2010 PEN-USA book award.) * ''Jezebel: The Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen'' (2007) (Finalist: 2008 Washington Book Award.) * ''Mary: A Flesh-and-Blood Biography'' (2004) (Winner: 2005 Washington Book Award.) * ''Jerusalem, Jerusalem: A Memoir of War and Peace, Passion and Politics'' (Winner: 1987 American Jewish Committee/Present Tense Book Award). * ''Where Mountains Roar: a Personal Report from the Sinai'' * ''Israeli Women: The Reality Behind the Myths'' Her other books include: * ''England, Bloody England: An Expatriate's Return'' * ''Confessions of a Fast Woman'' (1986) * ''Driving to Detroit: An Automotive Odyssey''

References

External links

Who is the AT? The Accidental Theologist
*
"The doubt essential to faith" (TEDGlobal 2013)

"On reading the Koran" (TEDxRainier 2010)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hazleton, Lesley 1945 births 2024 deaths 2024 suicides 20th-century American women writers 20th-century English women writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century English women writers American agnostics American people of English-Jewish descent American scholars of Islam American women non-fiction writers Deaths by euthanasia English agnostics English emigrants to the United States English expatriates in Israel Jewish American non-fiction writers Jewish English writers Jewish agnostics Jewish scholars of Islam Naturalized citizens of the United States Suicides in Washington (state) Women scholars of Islam Writers from Seattle The New York Times columnists Time (magazine) people The Jerusalem Post people Alumni of the University of Manchester Hebrew University of Jerusalem alumni Writers from Reading, Berkshire