David Mendell Email & Phone Number

Oak Park, Il, Us

Chicago-Based

My writing has appeared in The New Yorker, GQ, Vox Media, ESPN's The Undefeated, the Washington Post and other media.

United States

I write for The Juice, a startup that provides students in grades 5 -12 with daily news content. We deliver up-to-the-minute current events coverage in a nonbiased format that builds critical thinking skills.

Author of the first substantive biography of Barack Obama.The HarperCollins-published book (OBAMA: From Promise to Power) grew from my coverage for the Chicago Tribune of Obama’s campaign for the US Senate. The book, a Washington Post bestseller, drew praise from both Obama’s critics and supporters. The National Review called the book “the best source of background material” on Obama and a New Yorker magazine writer deemed my work “an unparalleled chronicle of the making of an American president.”

Evanston, Illinois

I've taught aspiring journalists how to write and report in the modern media age.

Chicago Tribune

As a Metro desk reporter for 10 years, I covered urban affairs, Chicago and Illinois politics, and the Chicago Public Schools. I also was dispatched to various breaking national stories, including the riots in Seattle spurred by meetings of the World Trade Organization and the Columbine High School massacre.