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The Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are awarded annually for the "Letters, Drama, and Music" category. The award is given to a nonfiction book written by an American author and published during the preceding calendar year that is ineligible for any other Pulitzer Prize. The Prize has been awarded since 1962; beginning in 1980, one to three finalists have been announced alongside the winner. [1]

Recipients

Since its inception in 1962, the Prize for General Nonfiction has been awarded 66 times. [1] An additional one to three finalists have been announced alongside the winner beginning in 1980. Two authors have won multiple prizes: Barbara W. Tuchman in 1963 and 1972, and Edward O. Wilson in 1979 and 1991. Additionally, two authors have been finalists multiple times: Steven Pinker (1998, 2003) and John McPhee (1982, 1987, 1991); McPhee won the Prize in 1999. Three winning works were also finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for History: A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan (1989), [2] Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry Wills (1993), [3] and The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America by Greg Grandin (2020). [4]

A black-and-white photo of Barbara W. Tuchman in 1971
Barbara W. Tuchman won the Prize in 1963 for her book on World War I, and again in 1972 for her work on early 20th-century China.
A color photo of Edward O. Wilson in 2003
Edward O. Wilson has won the Prize twice for his books on biology: once in 1979, and again in 1991 in collaboration with Bert Hölldobler.
A black-and-white photo of John McPhee
John McPhee was a Prize finalist three times in 1982, 1987, and 1991, before winning in 1999.
Winners and finalists [1]
Year Author(s) Book Award
1962 Theodore H. White The Making of the President 1960 Winner
1963 Barbara W. Tuchman The Guns of August Winner
1964 Richard Hofstadter Anti-intellectualism in American Life Winner
1965 Howard Mumford Jones O Strange New World: American Culture: The Formative Years Winner
1966 Edwin Way Teale Wandering Through Winter: A Naturalist's Record of a 20,000-Mile Journey Through the North American Winter Winner
1967 David Brion Davis The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture Winner
1968 Will Durant and Ariel Durant The Story of Civilization: Rousseau and Revolution Winner
1969 René Jules Dubos So Human an Animal: How We Are Shaped by Surroundings and Events Winner
Norman Mailer The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, The Novel as History Winner
1970 Erik H. Erikson Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence Winner
1971 John Toland The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 Winner
1972 Barbara W. Tuchman Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–45 Winner
1973 Robert Coles Children of Crisis, Volumes II and III Winner
Frances FitzGerald Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam Winner
1974 Ernest Becker The Denial of Death Winner
1975 Annie Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Winner
1976 Robert N. Butler Why Survive? Being Old in America Winner
1977 William W. Warner Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay Winner
1978 Carl Sagan The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence Winner
1979 Edward O. Wilson On Human Nature Winner
1980 Douglas R. Hofstadter Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid Winner
Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination Finalist
Lewis Thomas The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher Finalist
1981 Carl E. Schorske Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture Winner
Maxine Hong Kingston China Men Finalist
William Manchester Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War Finalist
Marshall Frady Southerners: A Journalist's Odyssey Finalist
1982 Tracy Kidder The Soul of a New Machine Winner
John McPhee Basin and Range Finalist
Diana Trilling Mrs. Harris: The Death of the Scarsdale Diet Doctor Finalist
1983 Susan Sheehan Is There No Place on Earth for Me? Winner
Diane Johnson Terrorists and Novelists Finalist
Jonathan Schell The Fate of the Earth Finalist
1984 Paul Starr The Social Transformation of American Medicine Winner
Winston Groom and Duncan Spencer Conversations with the Enemy Finalist
Susan Jacoby Wild Justice Finalist
1985 Studs Terkel The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two Winner
Donald Keene Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the Modern Era Finalist
Jonathan Kwitny Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World Finalist
1986 J. Anthony Lukas Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families Winner
Joseph Lelyveld Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White Winner
Robert N. Bellah Habits and the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life Finalist
1987 David K. Shipler Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land Winner
Cyra McFadden Rain or Shine: A Family Memoir Finalist
John McPhee Rising from the Plains Finalist
1988 Richard Rhodes The Making of the Atomic Bomb Winner
James Gleick Chaos: Making a New Science Finalist
Daniel Callahan Setting Limits: Medical Goals in an Aging Society Finalist
1989 Neil Sheehan A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam Winner
Timothy Ferris Coming of Age in the Milky Way Finalist
McGeorge Bundy Danger and Survival: Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty Years Finalist
Howard Kohn The Last Farmer Finalist
1990 Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson And Their Children After Them Winner
David Fromkin A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922 Finalist
Stephen Jay Gould Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History Finalist
1991 Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson The Ants Winner
John McPhee Looking for a Ship Finalist
William duBuys and Alex Harris River of Traps: A Village Life Finalist
1992 Daniel Yergin The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power Winner
Andre Dubus Broken Vessels Finalist
Thomas Byrne Edsall and Mary D. Edsall Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics Finalist
1993 Garry Wills Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America Winner
Susan Griffin A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War Finalist
Richard Rodriguez Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father Finalist
Anne Matthews Where the Buffalo Roam: Restoring America's Great Plains Finalist
1994 David Remnick Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire Winner
Peter Gay The Cultivation of Hatred: The Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud Finalist
John Lukacs The End of the Twentieth Century: And the End of the Modern Age Finalist
1995 Jonathan Weiner The Beak Of The Finch: A Story Of Evolution In Our Time Winner
Sherwin B. Nuland How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter Finalist
John Berendt Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story Finalist
1996 Tina Rosenberg The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism Winner
Daniel C. Dennett Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and The Meanings of Life Finalist
Lawrence Weschler Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology Finalist
1997 Richard Kluger Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris Winner
Cynthia Ozick Fame and Folly Finalist
Samuel G. Freedman The Inheritance: How Three Families and America Moved from Roosevelt to Reagan and Beyond Finalist
1998 Jared Diamond Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies Winner
Steven Pinker How the Mind Works Finalist
Jon Krakauer Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster Finalist
1999 John McPhee Annals of the Former World Winner
Elliott Currie Crime and Punishment in America Finalist
Judith Rich Harris The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do Finalist
2000 John W. Dower Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II Winner
Scott Weidensaul Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds Finalist
Brian Greene The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory Finalist
2001 Herbert P. Bix Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan Winner
Dave Eggers A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius Finalist
Ted Conover Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing Finalist
2002 Diane McWhorter Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution Winner
Andrew Solomon The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression Finalist
David Halberstam War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals Finalist
2003 Samantha Power "A Problem From Hell": America and the Age of Genocide Winner
Ellen Meloy The Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape, Art, and Spirit Finalist
Steven Pinker The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature Finalist
2004 Anne Applebaum Gulag: A History Winner
Steven Nadler Rembrandt's Jews Finalist
Dana Priest The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America's Military Finalist
2005 Steve Coll Ghost Wars Winner
Suketu Mehta Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found Finalist
Luis Alberto Urrea The Devil's Highway: A True Story Finalist
2006 Caroline Elkins Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya Winner
Tony Judt Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 Finalist
George Packer The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq Finalist
2007 Lawrence Wright The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 Winner
Pete Earley Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness Finalist
Thomas E. Ricks Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq Finalist
2008 Saul Friedländer The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945 Winner
Allan Brandt The Cigarette Century Finalist
Alex Ross The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century Finalist
2009 Douglas A. Blackmon Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II Winner
Arthur Herman Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age Finalist
William I. Hitchcock The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe Finalist
2010 David E. Hoffman The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy Winner
John Cassidy How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities Finalist
Robert Wright The Evolution of God Finalist
2011 Siddhartha Mukherjee The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Winner
S.C. Gwynne Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History Finalist
Nicholas G. Carr The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains Finalist
2012 Stephen Greenblatt The Swerve: How the World Became Modern Winner
Diane Ackerman One Hundred Names For Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing Finalist
Mara Hvistendahl Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men Finalist
2013 Gilbert King Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America Winner
Katherine Boo Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity Finalist
David George Haskell The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature Finalist
2014 Dan Fagin Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation Winner
Gary J. Bass The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide Finalist
Fred Kaplan The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War Finalist
2015 Elizabeth Kolbert The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Winner
Evan Osnos Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China Finalist
Anand Gopal No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes Finalist
2016 Joby Warrick Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS Winner
Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me Finalist
Carla Power If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran Finalist
2017 Matthew Desmond Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City Winner
John Donvan and Caren Zucker In a Different Key: The Story of Autism Finalist
Micki McElya The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery Finalist
2018 James Forman Jr. Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America Winner
Suzy Hansen Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-America World Finalist
Richard O. Prum The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World—And Us Finalist
2019 Eliza Griswold Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America Winner
Bernice Yeung In a Day's Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America's Most Vulnerable Workers Finalist
Elizabeth Rush Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore Finalist
2020 Greg Grandin The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America Winner
Anne Boyer The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care Winner
Louise Aronson Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life Finalist
Albert Woodfox with Leslie George Solitary Finalist
2021 David Zucchino Wilmington's Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy Winner
Cathy Park Hong Minor Feelings: An Asian American Reckoning Finalist
Sierra Crane Murdoch Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country Finalist
2022 Andrea Elliott Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City Winner
Carla Power Home, Land, Security: Deradicalization and the Journey Back from Extremism Finalist
Joshua Prager The Family Roe: An American Story Finalist
2023 Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice Winner
Jing Tsu Kingdom of Characters: The Language Revolution That Made China Modern Finalist
David George Haskell Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution's Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction Finalist
Linda Villarosa Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation Finalist

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "General Nonfiction". The Pulitzer Prizes. Archived from the original on March 18, 2021. Retrieved March 24, 2021.
  2. ^ "A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, by Neil Sheehan (Random House)". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  3. ^ "Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America, by Garry Wills (Simon & Schuster)". The Pulitzer Prizes. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  4. ^ "The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)". The Pulitzer Prizes. Archived from the original on May 4, 2020. Retrieved April 17, 2021.

External links