Pulitzer Prize for History
Encyclopedia
The Pulitzer Prize
for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
Two people have won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice: Margaret Leech
, for Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865 in 1941 and In the Days of McKinley in 1960, and Bernard Bailyn
, for The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1968) and Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (1987).
The complete list of winners:
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for History has been awarded since 1917 for a distinguished book upon the history of the United States. Many history books have also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction has been awarded since 1962 for a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in another category.-1960s:...
and Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
The Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.-1910s:* 1917: Julia Ward Howe by Laura E...
Two people have won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice: Margaret Leech
Margaret Leech
Margaret Kernochan Leech also known as Margaret Pulitzer, was an American author and historian, who won two Pulitzer Prizes in history, for her books Reveille in Washington and In the Days of McKinley .She was born in Newburgh, New York, obtained a B.A...
, for Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865 in 1941 and In the Days of McKinley in 1960, and Bernard Bailyn
Bernard Bailyn
Bernard Bailyn is an American historian, author, and professor specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He has been a professor at Harvard University since 1953. Bailyn has won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice . In 1998 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected...
, for The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1968) and Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (1987).
The complete list of winners:
1910s
- 1917: With Americans of Past and Present Days by Jean Jules JusserandJean Jules JusserandJean Adrien Antoine Jules Jusserand was a French author and diplomat. He was the French ambassador to the United States during World War I.-Career:...
- 1918: A History of the Civil War, 1861-1865 by James Ford RhodesJames Ford RhodesJames Ford Rhodes , was an American industrialist and historian born in Cleveland, Ohio.He attended New York University beginning in 1865. He also attended the Collège de France. During his studies in Europe he visited ironworks and steelworks...
- 1919: no award given
1920s
- 1920: The War with Mexico by Justin H. SmithJustin Harvey SmithJustin Harvey Smith was an American historian, specialist on the Mexican-American War....
- 1921: The Victory at Sea by William Sowden Sims and Burton J. HendrickBurton J. HendrickBurton Jesse Hendrick born in New Haven, Connecticut. While attending Yale University, Hendrick was editor of both The Yale Courant and The Yale Literary Magazine. He received his BA in 1895 and his master's in 1897 from Yale. After completing his degree work, Hendrick became editor of the New...
- 1922: The Founding of New England by James Truslow AdamsJames Truslow AdamsJames Truslow Adams was an American writer and historian. He was not related to the famous Adams family...
- 1923: The Supreme Court in United States History by Charles WarrenCharles Warren (U.S. author)Charles Warren was a legal scholar, and the author of the book The Supreme Court in United States History , which won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1923.He was also a lawyer...
- 1924: The American Revolution: A Constitutional Interpretation by Charles Howard McIlwainCharles Howard McIlwainCharles Howard McIlwain was a highly regarded scholar of Anglo-American constitutional history, and won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for History...
- 1925: History of the American Frontier by Frederic L. PaxsonFrederic L. PaxsonFrederic Logan Paxson was a Pulitzer Prize winning American historian. He had also been a President of the Organization of American Historians. He had degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University...
- 1926: A History of the United States by Edward ChanningEdward ChanningEdward Perkins Channing was a conservative American historian and an author of a monumental History of the United States in six volumes, for which he won the 1926 Pulitzer Prize for History. His thorough research in printed sources and judicious judgments made the book a standard reference for...
- 1927: Pinckney's TreatyPinckney's TreatyPinckney's Treaty, also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. It also defined the boundaries of the United States with the Spanish...
by Samuel Flagg BemisSamuel Flagg BemisSamuel Flagg Bemis was an American historian and biographer. For many years he taught at Yale University. He was also a former President of the American Historical Association and a specialist in American diplomatic history. He was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes.-Biography:Born in Worcester,... - 1928: Main Currents in American Thought by Vernon Louis ParringtonVernon Louis ParringtonVernon Louis Parrington was an American historian and football coach. His liberal interpretation of American history was highly influential in the 1920s to 1940s, when it fell out of favor.-Career:...
- 1929: The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861–1865 by Fred Albert ShannonFred Albert ShannonFred Albert Shannon was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He had many publications related to the American history, and he won the Pulitzer Prize for History for The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861-1865.-Biography:Shannon was born February 12, 1893, in...
1930s
- 1930: The War of IndependenceThe War of IndependenceThe War of Independence is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book by American historian Claude H. Van Tyne. The book was published in 1929. It explains the history and causes of the American Revolutionary War. Van Tyne won the Pulitzer Prize for History for this book in 1930....
by Claude H. Van TyneClaude H. Van TyneClaude Halstead Van Tyne was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He taught history at the University of Michigan from 1903–1930, and wrote a number of books on the American Revolution... - 1931: The Coming of the War, 1914 by Bernadotte E. SchmittBernadotte Everly Schmitt-Biography:He received his Master of Arts from the University of Oxford and his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In 1916 he gained notice with England and Germany, 1740-1914. His book The Coming of the War, 1914 won him the Pulitzer Prize for History. He was the first editor of the...
- 1932: My Experiences in the World War by John J. PershingJohn J. PershingJohn Joseph "Black Jack" Pershing, GCB , was a general officer in the United States Army who led the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I...
- 1933: The Significance of Sections in American History by Frederick J. TurnerFrederick Jackson TurnerFrederick Jackson Turner was an American historian in the early 20th century. He is best known for his essay "The Significance of the Frontier in American History", whose ideas are referred to as the Frontier Thesis. He is also known for his theories of geographical sectionalism...
- 1934: The People's Choice by Herbert AgarHerbert AgarHerbert Sebastian Agar was an American journalist and an editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1934 for his book The People's Choice, a critical look at the American presidency...
- 1935: The Colonial Period of American History by Charles McLean AndrewsCharles McLean AndrewsCharles McLean Andrews was one of the most distinguished American historians of his time and widely recognized as a leading authority on American colonial history...
- 1936: A Constitutional History of the United States by Andrew C. McLaughlinAndrew C. McLaughlinAndrew Cunningham McLaughlin was an American historian born to Scottish immigrant parents. He received his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Michigan. By 1903 he was a respected historian and in 1914 he was named President of the American Historical Association...
- 1937: The Flowering of New England, 1815–1865 by Van Wyck BrooksVan Wyck BrooksVan Wyck Brooks was an American literary critic, biographer, and historian.- Biography :Brooks was educated at Harvard University and graduated in 1908...
- 1938: The Road to Reunion, 1865–1900 by Paul Herman BuckPaul Herman BuckPaul Herman Buck was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1938 and became the first Provost of Harvard University in 1945.-Biography:...
- 1939: A History of American Magazines by Frank Luther MottFrank Luther MottFrank Luther Mott was an American historian and journalist of Quaker descent.Mott was born in Rose Hill, Iowa...
1940s
- 1940: Abraham Lincoln: The War Years by Carl SandburgCarl SandburgCarl Sandburg was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln. H. L. Mencken called Carl Sandburg "indubitably an American in every pulse-beat."-Biography:Sandburg was born in Galesburg,...
- 1941: The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860 by Marcus Lee HansenMarcus Lee HansenMarcus Lee Hansen was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History for The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860.-Biography:...
- 1942: Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865 by Margaret LeechMargaret LeechMargaret Kernochan Leech also known as Margaret Pulitzer, was an American author and historian, who won two Pulitzer Prizes in history, for her books Reveille in Washington and In the Days of McKinley .She was born in Newburgh, New York, obtained a B.A...
- 1943: Paul Revere and the World He Lived In by Esther ForbesEsther ForbesEsther Louise Forbes was an American novelist, historian andchildren's writer who received the Pulitzer Prize and the Newbery Medal.-Life:...
- 1944: The Growth of American Thought by Merle CurtiMerle CurtiMerle Curti was a leading American historian. He taught a large number of PhD students at the University of Wisconsin, and was a leader in developing the fields of social history and intellectual history. As a "Progressive" historian he was deeply committed to democracy, and to the Turnerian...
- 1945: Unfinished BusinessUnfinished BusinessUnfinished Business is the second collaboration album between R&B artist R. Kelly and rapper Jay-Z and was released worldwide on October 26, 2004...
by Stephen BonsalStephen BonsalStephen Bonsal was an American journalist, war correspondent, author, diplomat and translator.-Early life:Bonsal was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He was educated at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. He continued his studies in Germany at Heidelberg, Bonn and Vienna. Bonsal traveled... - 1946: The Age of Jackson by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
- 1947: Scientists Against Time by James Phinney Baxter IIIJames Phinney Baxter IIIJames Phinney Baxter III was an American historian, educator and academic. He won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for history, for his book Scientists Against Time...
- 1948: Across the Wide MissouriAcross the Wide MissouriAcross the Wide Missouri is a 1947 historical work by Bernard DeVoto. It is the second volume of a trilogy that includes The Year of Decision and The Course of Empire ....
by Bernard DeVotoBernard DeVotoBernard Augustine DeVoto was an American historian and author who specialized in the history of the American West.- Life and work :He was born in Ogden, Utah... - 1949: The Disruption of American DemocracyThe Disruption of American DemocracyThe Disruption of American Democracy is a book published by American historian Roy Franklin Nichols in 1948. Nichols won the Pulitzer Prize for History for the book in 1949....
by Roy Franklin NicholsRoy Franklin NicholsRoy Franklin Nichols was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History for The Disruption of American Democracy.-Biography:...
1950s
- 1950: Art and Life in America by Oliver W. LarkinOliver Waterman LarkinOliver Waterman Larkin was an American art historian and educator. He won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book Art and Life in America.- Biography :...
- 1951: The Old Northwest, Pioneer Period 1815–1840 by R. Carlyle BuleyR. Carlyle BuleyRoscoe Carlyle Buley was born in Georgetown, Indiana, on July 8, 1893. The son of David M. Buley -- a Hoosier school teacher -- and Nora Buley, he graduated Vincennes High School in 1910. He received his B.A. from Indiana University in 1914 and his M.A. from the same institution in 1916.During...
- 1952: The Uprooted by Oscar HandlinOscar HandlinOscar Handlin was an American historian. As a professor of history at Harvard University for over 50 years, he directed 80 PhD dissertations and helped promote social and ethnic history...
- 1953: The Era of Good Feelings by George DangerfieldGeorge DangerfieldGeorge Dangerfield was a journalist, historian, and the literary editor of Vanity Fair from 1933 to 1935...
- 1954: A Stillness at AppomattoxA Stillness at AppomattoxA Stillness at Appomattox is an award-winning, non-fiction book written by Bruce Catton in 1953. It recounts the American Civil War's final year, describing the campaigns of Ulysses S. Grant in Virginia during 1864 to the end of the war in 1865. It is the final volume of the Army of the Potomac...
by Bruce CattonBruce CattonCharles Bruce Catton was an American historian and journalist, best known for his books on the American Civil War. Known as a narrative historian, Catton specialized in popular histories that emphasized colorful characters and historical vignettes, in addition to the basic facts, dates, and analyses... - 1955: Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History by Paul HorganPaul HorganPaul Horgan was an American author of fiction and non-fiction, most of which was set in the Southwestern United States. He was the recipient of two Pulitzer prizes in History...
- 1956: The Age of ReformThe Age of ReformThe Age of Reform is a 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning book by Richard Hofstadter. It is an American history that traces events from the Populist Movement of the 1890s through the Progressive Era ending with the New Deal in the 1930s...
by Richard HofstadterRichard HofstadterRichard Hofstadter was an American public intellectual of the 1950s, a historian and DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University... - 1957: Russia Leaves the War: Soviet-American Relations, 1917–1920 by George F. KennanGeorge F. KennanGeorge Frost Kennan was an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War...
- 1958: Banks and Politics in AmericaBanks and Politics in AmericaBanks and Politics in America is a 1957-published book written by Bray Hammond. The book describes the differences in banking and politics in the United States between the American Revolution and the Civil War period. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize....
by Bray HammondBray HammondBray Hammond was an American author and assistant secretary of Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System between the years of 1944 and 1950.-Authored books:* Sovereignty and an Empty Purse: Banks and Politics in the Civil War... - 1959: The Republican Era: 1869–1901 by Leonard D. WhiteLeonard D. WhiteLeonard Dupee White was a historian of the field of public administration in the United States. His technique was to study administration in the context of grouped U.S. presidential periods. An important founder of the field, White worked at the University of Chicago after service in the...
and Jean SchneiderJean SchneiderJean Schneider is a Pulitzer Prize for History winner. She was the research associate of Leonard D. White.-References:...
1960s
- 1960: In the Days of McKinley by Margaret LeechMargaret LeechMargaret Kernochan Leech also known as Margaret Pulitzer, was an American author and historian, who won two Pulitzer Prizes in history, for her books Reveille in Washington and In the Days of McKinley .She was born in Newburgh, New York, obtained a B.A...
- 1961: Between War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference by Herbert FeisHerbert FeisHerbert Feis was an American Author and former Economic Advisor for International Affairs to the Department of State in the Hoover and Roosevelt administrations....
- 1962: The Triumphant Empire: Thunder-Clouds Gather in the West, 1763–1766 by Lawrence H. GipsonLawrence H. GipsonLawrence Henry Gipson was an American historian, who won the 1950 Bancroft Prize and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for History...
- 1963: Washington, Village and Capital, 1800–1878 by Constance McLaughlin GreenConstance McLaughlin GreenConstance McLaughlin Winsor Green was an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. She won the Pulitzer Prize for History for Washington, Village and Capital, 1800-1878.-Biography:...
- 1964: Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town by Sumner Chilton PowellSumner Chilton PowellSumner Chilton Powell was a historian and teacher of history at the Choate School. He was a 1946 graduate of Amherst College and received a doctorate in History from from Harvard University in 1956. His book Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town received the Pulitzer Prize for...
- 1965: The Greenback Era by Irwin UngerIrwin UngerIrwin Unger is an American historian and academic specializing in economic history, the history of the 1960s, and the history of the Gilded Age. He earned his Ph.D...
- 1966: The Life of the Mind in America by Perry MillerPerry MillerPerry G. Miller was an American intellectual historian and Harvard University professor. He was an authority on American Puritanism, and a founder of the field of American Studies. Alfred Kazin referred to him as "the master of American intellectual history"...
- 1967: Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West by William H. GoetzmannWilliam H. GoetzmannWilliam H. Goetzmann was an award-winning historian and emeritus professor in the American Studies and American Civilization Programs at the University of Texas at Austin. He attended Yale University as a graduate student and was friends with Tom Wolfe while there...
- 1968: The Ideological Origins of the American RevolutionThe Ideological Origins of the American RevolutionThe Ideological Origins of the American Revolution is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book of history by Bernard Bailyn. It is considered one of the most influential studies of the American Revolution published during the 20th century....
by Bernard BailynBernard BailynBernard Bailyn is an American historian, author, and professor specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He has been a professor at Harvard University since 1953. Bailyn has won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice . In 1998 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected... - 1969: Origins of the Fifth AmendmentOrigins of the Fifth AmendmentOrigins of the Fifth Amendment by Leonard W. Levy Oxford University Press, 1968, won the Pulitzer Prize for 1969. It followed in the wake of the 1966 United States Supreme Court Opinion Miranda v. Arizona. The book was reissued in 1986 and 1999....
by Leonard W. LevyLeonard LevyLeonard W. Levy was the Andrew W. Mellon All-Claremont Professor of Humanities and Chairman of the Graduate Faculty of History at Claremont Graduate School, California. He was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and educated at Columbia University, where his mentor for the Ph.D...
1970s
- 1970: Present At The Creation: My Years in the State Department by Dean AchesonDean AchesonDean Gooderham Acheson was an American statesman and lawyer. As United States Secretary of State in the administration of President Harry S. Truman from 1949 to 1953, he played a central role in defining American foreign policy during the Cold War...
- 1971: Roosevelt: The Soldier Of Freedom by James MacGregor BurnsJames MacGregor BurnsJames MacGregor Burns is an historian and political scientist, presidential biographer, and authority on leadership studies. He is the Woodrow Wilson Professor of Government Emeritus at Williams College and Distinguished Leadership Scholar at the of the School of Public Policy at the University...
- 1972: Neither Black Nor White by Carl N. Degler
- 1973: People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization by Michael KammenMichael KammenMichael Kammen is a professor of American cultural history in the Department of History at Cornell University. He was born in 1936 in Rochester, New York, grew up in the Washington, DC area, and was educated at the George Washington University and Harvard University . He has taught at Cornell...
- 1974: The Americans: The Democratic Experience by Daniel J. BoorstinDaniel J. BoorstinDaniel Joseph Boorstin was an American historian, professor, attorney, and writer. He was appointed twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress from 1975 until 1987.- Biography:...
- 1975: Jefferson and His Time by Dumas MaloneDumas MaloneDumas Malone was an American historian, biographer, and editor noted for his six-volume biography on Thomas Jefferson, for which he received the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for history...
- 1976: Lamy of Santa Fe by Paul HorganPaul HorganPaul Horgan was an American author of fiction and non-fiction, most of which was set in the Southwestern United States. He was the recipient of two Pulitzer prizes in History...
- 1977: The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861 by David M. PotterDavid M. PotterDavid M. Potter was an American historian of the South. He was born in Augusta, Georgia, and graduated from Emory University in 1932. At Yale he worked with Ulrich Bonnell Phillips. His earned his Ph.D. in 1940 and published Lincoln and His Party in the Secession Crisis in 1942...
(Completed and edited by Don E. FehrenbacherDon E. FehrenbacherDon Edward Fehrenbacher was an American historian.-Biography:Born in Sterling, Illinois, he was a well known historian of 19th century United States history. He wrote on politics, slavery, and Abraham Lincoln. In 1979, he won the Pulitzer Prize for History for his book about the Dred Scott Decision...
) - 1978: The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.Alfred DuPont Chandler, Jr. was a professor of business history at Harvard Business School and Johns Hopkins University, who wrote extensively about the scale and the management structures of modern corporations. His works redefined business and economic history of industrialization...
- 1979: The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics by Don E. FehrenbacherDon E. FehrenbacherDon Edward Fehrenbacher was an American historian.-Biography:Born in Sterling, Illinois, he was a well known historian of 19th century United States history. He wrote on politics, slavery, and Abraham Lincoln. In 1979, he won the Pulitzer Prize for History for his book about the Dred Scott Decision...
1980s
- 1980: Been in the Storm So Long by Leon F. Litwack
- 1981: American Education: The National Experience, 1783–1876 by Lawrence A. CreminLawrence A. CreminLawrence A. Cremin was an educational historian and administrator. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1949. He won the 1962 Bancroft Prize in American History for his book The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education, 1876-1957...
- 1982: Mary Chesnut's Civil War by C. Vann WoodwardC. Vann WoodwardComer Vann Woodward was a preeminent American historian focusing primarily on the American South and race relations. He was considered, along with Richard Hofstadter and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., to be one of the most influential historians of the postwar era, 1940s-1970s, both by scholars and by...
- 1983: The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790 by Rhys L. Isaac
- 1984: no award given
- 1985: Prophets of RegulationProphets of RegulationProphets of Regulation: Charles Francis Adams, Louis D. Brandeis, James M. Landis, Alfred E. Kahn is a book by American business historian Thomas K. McCraw. The book won McCraw the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for History....
by Thomas K. McCrawThomas K. McCrawThomas Kincaid McCraw is an American business historian and Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History for Prophets of Regulation: Charles Francis Adams, Louis D. Brandeis, James M. Landis, Alfred E.... - 1986: ...the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age by Walter A. McDougallWalter A. McDougallWalter A. McDougall is an American historian and a Pulitzer Prize winner. He is Professor of History and the Alloy-Ansin Professor of International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania....
- 1987: Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution by Bernard BailynBernard BailynBernard Bailyn is an American historian, author, and professor specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He has been a professor at Harvard University since 1953. Bailyn has won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice . In 1998 the National Endowment for the Humanities selected...
- 1988: The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876 by Robert V. BruceRobert V. BruceRobert Vance Bruce was an American historian specializing in the American Civil War who won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1988 for his book The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876...
- 1989: Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War EraBattle Cry of Freedom (book)Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era is a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of the American Civil War and its causes published in 1988 by James M. McPherson. Writing for The New York Times, historian Hugh Brogan described it as "...the best one-volume treatment of its subject I have ever come across...
by James M. McPhersonJames M. McPhersonJames M. McPherson is an American Civil War historian, and is the George Henry Davis '86 Professor Emeritus of United States History at Princeton University. He received the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Battle Cry of Freedom, his most famous book... - 1989: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954–1963 by Taylor BranchTaylor BranchTaylor Branch is an American author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of the history of the American civil rights movement...
1990s
- 1990: In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines by Stanley KarnowStanley KarnowStanley Karnow is an American journalist and historian.After serving with the United States Army Air Forces in Asia during World War II, he graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in 1947; in 1947 and 1948 he attended the Sorbonne, and from 1948 to 1949 the Institut d'Études Politiques de...
- 1991: A Midwife's Tale by Laurel Thatcher UlrichLaurel Thatcher UlrichLaurel Thatcher Ulrich , is a historian of early America and the history of women and a university professor at Harvard University...
- 1992: The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties by Mark E. Neely, Jr.Mark E. Neely, Jr.Mark E. Neely, Jr., is a Pulitzer Prize winning historian best known as an authority on the U.S. Civil War in general and Abraham Lincoln in particular.-Biography:...
- 1993: The Radicalism of the American Revolution by Gordon S. WoodGordon S. WoodGordon S. Wood is Alva O. Way University Professor and Professor of History Emeritus at Brown University and the recipient of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for History for The Radicalism of the American Revolution. His book The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 won a 1970 Bancroft Prize...
- 1994: no award given
- 1995: No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns GoodwinDoris Kearns GoodwinDoris Kearns Goodwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer and historian, and an oft-seen political commentator. She is the author of biographies of several U.S...
- 1996: William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic by Alan Taylor
- 1997: Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the ConstitutionOriginal Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the ConstitutionOriginal Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution is a non-fiction book authored by Jack N. Rakove and published on March 25, 1996 in hardcover by Knopf and on May 26, 1997 by Vintage Books in paperback. Rakove investigates the meaning of the United States Constitution in...
by Jack N. RakoveJack N. RakoveJack Norman Rakove is an American historian, author, professor at Stanford University, and Pulitzer Prize winner.-Biography:... - 1998: Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion by Edward J. LarsonEdward LarsonEdward John Larson is a North American historian and legal scholar. He is University Professor of history and holds the Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University, he was formerly Herman E. Talmadge Chair of Law and Richard B. Russell Professor of American History at the University...
- 1999: Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 is a non-fiction book by historians Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace. Based on over twenty years of research by Burrows and Wallace, it was published in 1998 by Oxford University Press and won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for History...
by Edwin G. BurrowsEdwin G. BurrowsEdwin G. "Ted" Burrows is a Distinguished Professor of History at Brooklyn College. He is the co-author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 and author of 2008's Forgotten Patriots: The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War. Burrows...
and Mike WallaceMike Wallace (historian)Mike Wallace is an American historian, Distinguished Professor of History at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of the City University of New York, where he has taught since 1971, and the director of the Gotham Center for New York City History....
2000s
- 2000: Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945 by David M. KennedyDavid M. Kennedy (historian)David M. Kennedy is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning historian specializing in American history. He is the Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History at Stanford University and the Director of the Bill Lane Center for the American West...
- The Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America by Kevin PhillipsKevin Phillips (political commentator)Kevin Price Phillips is an American writer and commentator on politics, economics, and history. Formerly a Republican Party strategist, Phillips has become disaffected with his former party over the last two decades, and is now one of its most scathing critics...
- Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier by James H. Merrell
- The Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America by Kevin Phillips
- 2001: Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary GenerationFounding Brothers: The Revolutionary GenerationFounding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation is a Pulitzer Prize–winning book written by Joseph Ellis, a professor of history at Mount Holyoke College...
by Joseph J. EllisJoseph EllisJoseph John Ellis is a Professor of History at Mount Holyoke College who has written histories on the founding generation of American presidents. His book Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation received the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2001.-Background and teaching:He received his B.A...
- The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States by Alexander KeyssarAlexander KeyssarAlexander Keyssar is an American historian, and the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy at Harvard University.-Life:He graduated from Harvard University with a PhD in the History of American Civilization...
- Way Out There in the Blue by Frances FitzGerald
- The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States by Alexander Keyssar
- 2002: The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in AmericaThe Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in AmericaThe Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 2001 book by Louis Menand, an American writer and legal scholar...
by Louis MenandLouis MenandLouis Menand is an American writer and academic, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Metaphysical Club , an intellectual and cultural history of late 19th and early 20th century America....
- Deep Souths: Delta, Piedmont, and the Sea Island Society in the Age of Segregation by J. William Harris
- Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America by Daniel K. RichterDaniel K. Richter-Life:He graduated from Columbia University with a Ph.D. He taught at Dickinson College and the University of East Anglia. He teaches at University of Pennsylvania.-Awards:...
- 2003: An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942–1943 by Rick AtkinsonRick AtkinsonRick Atkinson is an American journalist and author whose contributions led to four Pulitzer Prizes.-Life:Atkinson was born in Munich. His father was an United States Army officer and he grew up at military posts. He earned his bachelor degree from East Carolina University in 1974 and a master of...
- At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America by Philip DrayPhilip DrayPhilip Dray is an American writer and independent public historian, known for his comprehensive analyses of American scientific, racial, and labor history.-Awards:...
- Rereading Sex: Battles Over Sexual Knowledge and Suppression in Nineteenth Century America by Helen Lefkowitz HorowitzHelen Lefkowitz HorowitzHelen Lefkowitz Horowitz is the Sydenham Clark Parsons Professor of American Studies and History, emerita, at Smith College. She received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her Ph.D. from Harvard University...
- At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America by Philip Dray
- 2004: A Nation Under Our FeetA Nation Under Our FeetA Nation under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book written in 2003 by Steven Hahn...
by Steven HahnSteven HahnSteven Hahn is the Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor in American History at the University of Pennsylvania.-Life:Educated at the University of Rochester, where he worked with Eugene Genovese and Herbert Gutman, Hahn received his Ph.D. from Yale University. His dissertation was overseen by...
- Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center by Daniel OkrentDaniel OkrentDaniel Okrent is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of The New York Times newspaper, for inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books, most recently Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.-Education and...
- They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967They Marched into SunlightThey Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967 is a book written by Pulitzer Prize winner and bestselling author David Maraniss, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2004 and won the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize...
by David MaranissDavid MaranissDavid Maraniss is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author. As a reporter for The Washington Post he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his stories about the life and career of candidate Bill Clinton in the 1992 campaign for the U.S...
- Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center by Daniel Okrent
- 2005: Washington's Crossing by David Hackett FischerDavid Hackett FischerDavid Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. Fischer's major works have tackled everything from large macroeconomic and cultural trends to narrative histories of significant events to explorations of...
- Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age by Kevin Boyle
- Conjectures of Order: Intellectual Life and the American South, 1810-1860, volumes 1 & 2 by Michael O'BrienMichael O'Brien (historian)-Life:He was an undergraduate and research student at University of Cambridge in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He taught at University of Michigan, University of Arkansas, Miami University. He teaches at Jesus College, Cambridge.-Awards:...
- 2006: Polio: An American StoryPolio: An American StoryPolio: An American Story is a book by David M. Oshinsky, professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin, which documents the polio epidemic in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s and the race to find a cure....
by David OshinskyDavid OshinskyDavid M. Oshinsky is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian; he currently holds the Jack S. Blanton chair in history at the University of Texas at Austin and is a distinguished scholar in residence at New York University....
- New York Burning by Jill LeporeJill LeporeJill Lepore is a professor of American history at Harvard University and chair of Harvard's History and Literature Program. She is a contributing writer at The New Yorker, and her essays and reviews have also appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The American Scholar, and in...
- The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln by Sean WilentzSean WilentzRobert Sean Wilentz is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor of History at Princeton University, where he has taught since 1979.-Background:Born in 1951 in New York City, where his father Eli and uncle Ted owned a well-known Greenwich Village bookstore, the Eighth Street Bookshop, Wilentz earned...
- New York Burning by Jill Lepore
- 2007: The Race BeatThe Race BeatThe Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book written in 2006 by journalists Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff. The book is about the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the United States, specifically about the role of...
by Gene RobertsGene Roberts (journalist)Gene Roberts is an American journalist and professor of journalism. Roberts was national editor at The New York Times, executive editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer from 1972 to 1990, and managing editor of The New York Times from 1994 to 1997...
and Hank KlibanoffHank KlibanoffHank Klibanoff was the Managing Editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution until June 24, 2008 when he stepped down. He received the Pulitzer prize for history in 2007 for the book The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, co-written with Gene Roberts.He...
- Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel PhilbrickNathaniel PhilbrickNathaniel Philbrick is an American author and a winner of the National Book Award for his 2000 work of maritime history In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. He is member of the Philbrick literary family.-Life:...
- Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005 by James T. CampbellJames T. Campbell-Life:He graduated from Yale University, in 1980, and from Stanford University, with a Ph.D. in 1989.He taught at Northwestern University and at Brown University,.He teaches at Stanford University....
- Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick
- 2008: What Hath God Wrought: the Transformation of America, 1815–1848 by Daniel Walker HoweDaniel Walker HoweDaniel Walker Howe is a historian of the early national period of American history and specializes in the intellectual and religious history of the United States. He is Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus at Oxford University in England and Professor of History Emeritus at the University...
- The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean WarThe Coldest Winter: America and the Korean WarThe Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War is a book published after the death of the author David Halberstam. The book, written more than half a century after the war, looks at the war from a different perspective than previously written works on the war by various authors.Other books on the...
by David HalberstamDavid HalberstamDavid Halberstam was an American Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, author and historian, known for his early work on the Vietnam War, his work on politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, and his later sports journalism.-Early life and education:Halberstam... - Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert DallekRobert DallekRobert Dallek is an American historian specializing in American presidents. He is a recently retired Professor of History at Boston University and has previously taught at Columbia University, UCLA, and Oxford...
- The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War
- 2009: The Hemingses of Monticello: An American FamilyThe Hemingses of Monticello: An American FamilyThe Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family is a 2008 book by American historian Annette Gordon-Reed. It recounts the history of four generations of the African-American Hemings family, from their African and Virginia origins until the 1826 death of Thomas Jefferson, their master, Sally...
by Annette Gordon-ReedAnnette Gordon-ReedAnnette Gordon-Reed is an American historian and law professor noted for changing scholarship on Thomas Jefferson. Gordon-Reed was educated at Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School. She is Professor of Law and History at Harvard, and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe...
- The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s by G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot
- This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War by Drew Gilpin FaustDrew Gilpin FaustCatherine Drew Gilpin Faust is an American historian, college administrator, and the president of Harvard University. Faust is the first woman to serve as Harvard's president and the university's 28th president overall. Faust is the fifth woman to serve as president of an Ivy League university, and...
2010s
- 2010: Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat AhamedLiaquat AhamedLiaquat Ahamed is a Pulitzer-prize winning author and investment manager. He has worked at the World Bank in Washington D.C. and the New York-based partnership of Fischer, Francis, Trees and Watts, where he served as Chief Executive....
- Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood
- Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City by Greg GrandinGreg GrandinGreg Grandin is an American historian, and professor of history at New York University. He is author of a number of books, including Fordlândia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for History, as well as for the National Book Award...
- 2011: The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric FonerEric FonerEric Foner is an American historian. On the faculty of the Department of History at Columbia University since 1982, he writes extensively on political history, the history of freedom, the early history of the Republican Party, African American biography, Reconstruction, and historiography...
- Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South by Stephanie McCurry
- Eden on the Charles: The Making of Boston by Michael J. Rawson