Book prize for biography books
Pulitzer Prize for Biography
American award for distinguished biographies
The Pulitzer Prize for Biography is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. The award honors "a distinguished and appropriately documented biography by an American author."[1] Award winners received $15,000 USD.[1]
From 1917 to 2022, this prize was known as the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and was awarded to a distinguished biography, autobiography or memoir[2] by an American author or co-authors, published during the preceding calendar year. Thus it is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year.[3]
Recipients
In its first 97 years to 2013, the Biography Pulitzer was awarded 97 times. Two were given in 1938, and none in 1962.[4]
1910s-1940s
| Year | Author | Title | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1917 | Laura E. Richards and Maud Howe Elliott, assisted by Florence Howe Hall | Julia Ward Howe | |
| 1918 | William Cabell Bruce | Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed | |
| 1919 | Henry Adams | The Education of Henry Adams | |
| 1920 | Albert J. Beveridge | The Life of John Marshall, 4 vols. | |
| 1921 | Edward Bok | The Americanization of Edward Bok: The Autobiography of a Dutch Boy Fifty Years After | |
| 1922 | Hamlin Garland | A Daughter of the Middle Border | |
| 1923 | Burton J. Hendrick | The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page | |
| 1924 | Michael I. Pupin | From Immigrant to Inventor | |
| 1925 | M. A. De Wolfe Howe | Barrett Wendell and His Letters | |
| 1926 | Harvey Cushing | The Life of Sir William Osler, 2 vols. | |
| 1927 | Emory Holloway | Whitman | |
| 1928 | Charles Edward Russell | The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas | |
| 1929 | Burton J. Hendrick | The Training of an American: The Earlier Life and Letters of Walter H. Page | |
| 1930 | Marquis James | The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston | |
| 1931 | Henry James | Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869–1901 | |
| 1932 | Henry F. Pringle | Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography | |
| 1933 | Allan Nevins | Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage | |
| 1934 | Tyler Dennett | John Hay | |
| 1935 | Douglas S. Freeman | R. E. Lee | |
| 1936 | Ralph Barton Perry | The Thought and Character of William James | |
| 1937 | Allan Nevins | Hamilton Fish | |
| 1938 | Marquis James | Andrew Jackson, 2 vols. | |
| Odell Shepard | Pedlar's Progress: The Life of Bronson Alcott | ||
| 1939 | Carl Van Doren | Benjamin Franklin | |
| 1940 | Ray Stannard Baker | Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. Vols. VII and VIII | |
| 1941 | Ola Elizabeth Winslow | Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758: a biography | |
| 1942 | Forrest Wilson | Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe | |
| 1943 | Samuel Eliot Morison | Admiral of the Ocean Sea | |
| 1944 | Carleton Mabee | The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse | [5] |
| 1945 | Russel Blaine Nye | George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel | |
| 1946 | Linnie Marsh Wolfe | Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir | |
| 1947 | William Allen White | The Autobiography of William Allen White | |
| 1948 | Margaret Clapp | Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow | |
| 1949 | Robert E. Sherwood | Roosevelt and Hopkins |
1950s-1970s
1980s
Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year.
1990s
2000s
2010s
| Year | Author(s) | Title | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | T. J. Stiles | The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt | Winner | [34] |
| Blake Bailey | Cheever: A Life | Finalist | ||
| John Milton Cooper, Jr. | Woodrow Wilson: A Biography | Finalist | ||
| 2011 | Ron Chernow | Washington: A Life | Winner | [35][36] |
| Alan Brinkley | The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century | Finalist | ||
| Michael O'Brien | Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of Napoleon | Finalist | ||
| 2012 | John Lewis Gaddis | George F. Kennan: An American Life | Winner | [37][38] |
| Mary Gabriel | Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution | Finalist | [38] | |
| Manning Marable | Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention | Finalist | [38] | |
| 2013 | Tom Reiss | The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo | Winner | [39] |
| Michael Gorra | Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece | Finalist | [39] | |
| David Nasaw | The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy | Finalist | [39] | |
| 2014 | Megan Marshall | Margaret Fuller: A New American Life | Winner | [40][41] |
| Leo Damrosch | Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World | Finalist | ||
| Jonathan Sperber | Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life | Finalist | ||
| 2015 | David I. Kertzer | The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe | Winner | [42][43] |
| Thomas Brothers | Louis Armstrong: Master of Modernism | Finalist | ||
| Stephen Kotkin | Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928 | Finalist | ||
| 2016 | William Finnegan | Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life | Winner | [44][45] |
| Elizabeth Alexander | The Light of the World: A Memoir | Finalist | ||
| T. J. Stiles | Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America | Finalist | ||
| 2017 | Hisham Matar | The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between | Winner | [46][47] |
| Susan Faludi | In the Darkroom | Finalist | ||
| Paul Kalanithi | When Breath Becomes Air | Finalist | ||
| 2018 | Caroline Fraser | Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder | Winner | [48][49] |
| John A. Farrell | Richard Nixon: The Life | Finalist | [48] | |
| Kay Redfield Jamison | Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and Character | Finalist | [48] | |
| 2019 | Jeffrey C. Stewart | The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke | Winner | [50][51] |
| Max Boot | The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam | Finalist | [50] | |
| Caroline Weber | Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-Siècle Paris | Finalist | [50] |
2020s
Repeat winners
Ten people have won the Pulitzer for Biography or Autobiography twice:
- Burton J. Hendrick, 1923, 1929
- Allan Nevins, 1933, 1937
- Marquis James, 1930, 1938
- Douglas S. Freeman, 1935, 1958
- Samuel Eliot Morison, 1943, 1960
- Walter Jackson Bate, 1964, 1978
- David Herbert Donald, 1961, 1988
- David Levering Lewis, 1994, 2001
- David McCullough, 1993, 2002
- Robert Caro, 1975, 2003
W. A. Swanberg was selected by the Pulitzer board in 1962 and 1973; however, the trustees of Columbia University (then responsible for conferral of the awards) overturned the proposed 1962 prize for Citizen Hearst.[7]
See also
References
- ^ ab"Biography". Pulitzer Prize. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ abcdefgh"Biography: Prize Winners by Category". Pulitzer Prize. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2019.
- ^"1917". Pulitzer Prize. Archived from the original on December 24, 2015. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Biography or Autobiography". The Pulitzer Prizes (pulitzer.org). Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2008.
- ^"Obituary Note: Carleton Mabee". Shelf Awareness. January 13, 2015. Archived from the original on February 6, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Rediscover: Profiles in Courage". Shelf Awareness. June 2, 2017. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ abIn 1962 the Pulitzer board awarded the prize to W.A. Swanberg for Citizen Hearst. The trustees of Columbia University, who administer the prize, overturned the award, refusing to honor a book that took a critical look at William Randolph Hearst. McDowell, Edwin (May 11, 1984). "Publishing: Pulitzer Controversies". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 23, 2009. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^"Notes: Schlesinger Dies; New Bookstore Collective". Shelf Awareness. March 1, 2007. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Obituary Notes: Justin Kaplan; Sherwin B. Nuland". Shelf Awareness. March 5, 2014. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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- ^"Awards: BIO Winner; PROSE Categories". Shelf Awareness. February 1, 2021. Archived from the original on December 3, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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- ^"Rediscover: Personal History". Shelf Awareness. January 19, 2018. Archived from the original on August 8, 2020. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"PW: Roth, Kakutani Awarded Pulitzers". Publishers Weekly. April 20, 1998. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Rediscover: Lindbergh". Shelf Awareness. September 25, 2018. Archived from the original on January 27, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^Zeitchik, Steven M. (April 19, 1999). "FSG Leads Pulitzer Winners". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Chabon, Ellis Win Pulitzers". Publishers Weekly. April 23, 2001. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Obituary Note: Jean Edward Smith". Shelf Awareness. September 26, 2019. Archived from the original on December 24, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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- ^"The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes for Letters and Drama". Publishers Weekly. April 20, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Awards: The Pulitzers". Shelf Awareness. April 13, 2010. Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Rediscover: Alexander Hamilton". Shelf Awareness. June 3, 2016. Archived from the original on February 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
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- ^"Awards: Pulitzer Winners; Orange Prize Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. April 17, 2012. Archived from the original on October 28, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ abcHabash, Gabe (April 16, 2012). "2012 Pulitzer Prize: No Fiction Award, Jurors 'Shocked'". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^ abcHabash, Gabe (April 15, 2013). "2013 Pulitzer Prize: 'Orphan Master' Brings Fiction Prize Back". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Awards: Pulitzer Winners; Thwaites Wainwright Nature & Travel Writing". Shelf Awareness. April 15, 2014. Archived from the original on March 10, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Tartt, Fagin Take 2014 Pulitzers". Publishers Weekly. April 14, 2014. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Media Heat: Pulitzer-Winner David I. Kertzer on Fresh Air". Shelf Awareness. April 24, 2015. Archived from the original on July 19, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Doerr, Kolbert Among 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Shelf Awareness . April 21, 2015. Archived from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Debut Novel Among 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners". Shelf Awareness. April 19, 2016. Archived from the original on March 2, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"Awards: William Hill Sports Book". Shelf Awareness. November 29, 2016. Archived from the original on March 12, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^"The Underground Railroad Among Pulitzer Winners". Shelf Awareness. April 11, 2017. Archived from the original on January 19, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
- ^