His death in a car crash in Los Angeles at about 4 30 a.m. was confirmed by his wife Elise Jordan. Mr. Hastings was believed to have been alone in the car which struck a tree at high speed according to the Los Angeles County Coroner s office. He lived in New York City.
In 2010 Mr. Hastings won a George Polk Award presented by Long Island University for reporting in the public interest.
The award honored his Rolling Stone magazine cover story The Runaway General published that June. In it Mr. Hastings profiled Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal then the top commander of United States forces in Afghanistan.
The article quoted the general and members of his staff making disparaging comments about members of the Obama administration including Vice President Joseph R. Biden with respect to their handling of the Afghan campaign. Within days of its publication President Obama met with General McChrystal in the Oval Office before firing him ending his 34 year military career.
An inquiry into the article by the Defense Department inspector general the next year found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing by the general his military aides and civilian advisers.
The inspector general s report also questioned the accuracy of some aspects of the article which was repeatedly defended by Mr. Hastings and Rolling Stone.
Mr. Hastings was a contributing editor at Rolling Stone at his death and had also written for GQ and Newsweek magazines.
Michael Mahon Hastings was born on Jan. 28 1980 in Malone N.Y. After attending Connecticut College he earned a bachelor s degree in journalism from New York University.
As a young correspondent for Newsweek Mr. Hastings covered the Iraq war. His fianc e Andrea Parhamovich followed him there taking a job with a nongovernmental organization. She was killed in 2007 when her car was ambushed by Sunni insurgents.
Mr. Hastings s memoir of the experience I Lost My Love in Baghdad A Modern War Story was published in 2008.
Besides his wife Mr. Hastings is survived by his parents Brent and Molly Hastings two brothers Jeff and Jon and his grandmother Ruth Mahon.
His other books are The Operators The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America s War in Afghanistan published last year and Panic 2012 The Sublime and Terrifying Inside Story of Obama s Final Campaign published in January.
Daniel E. Slotnik contributed reporting.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction
Correction June 19 2013
An earlier version of this obituary using information from the family misstated the name of Mr. Hastings s surviving grandmother. She is Ruth Mahon not Ruth Mahon Hastings.
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