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]
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 by Greg Grandin (2020).[4]
Year | Author(s) | Book | Award | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1962 | data-sort-value="White, Theodore H." | Theodore H. White | data-sort-value="Making of the President 1960, The" | The Making of the President 1960 | |
1963 | data-sort-value="Tuchman, Barbara W." | Barbara W. Tuchman | data-sort-value="Guns of August, The" | The Guns of August | |
1964 | data-sort-value="Hofstadter, Richard" | Richard Hofstadter | Anti-intellectualism in American Life | ||
1965 | data-sort-value="Jones, Howard Mumford" | Howard Mumford Jones | O Strange New World: American Culture: The Formative Years | ||
1966 | data-sort-value="Teale, Edwin Way" | Edwin Way Teale | Wandering Through Winter: A Naturalist's Record of a 20,000-Mile Journey Through the North American Winter | ||
1967 | data-sort-value="Davis, David Brion" | David Brion Davis | data-sort-value="Problem of Slavery in Western Culture, The" | The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture | |
1968 | data-sort-value="Durant, Will and Durant, Ariel" | Will Durant and Ariel Durant | data-sort-value="Story of Civilization: Rousseau and Revolution, The" | The Story of Civilization: Rousseau and Revolution | |
1969 | data-sort-value="Dubos, René Jules" | René Jules Dubos | So Human an Animal: How We Are Shaped by Surroundings and Events | ||
data-sort-value="Mailer, Norman" | Norman Mailer | data-sort-value="Armies of the Night, The" | The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, The Novel as History | ||
1970 | data-sort-value="Erikson, Erik H." | Erik H. Erikson | Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence | ||
1971 | data-sort-value="Toland, John" | John Toland | data-sort-value="Rising Sun, The" | The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945 | |
1972 | data-sort-value="Tuchman, Barbara W." | Barbara W. Tuchman | Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911–45 | ||
1973 | data-sort-value="Coles, Robert" | Robert Coles | Children of Crisis, Volumes II and III | ||
data-sort-value="FitzGerald, Frances" | Frances FitzGerald | Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam | |||
1974 | data-sort-value="Becker, Ernest" | Ernest Becker | data-sort-value="Denial of Death, The" | The Denial of Death | |
1975 | data-sort-value="Dillard, Annie" | Annie Dillard | Pilgrim at Tinker Creek | ||
1976 | data-sort-value="Butler, Robert N." | Robert N. Butler | Why Survive? Being Old in America | ||
1977 | data-sort-value="Warner, William W." | William W. Warner | Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay | ||
1978 | data-sort-value="Sagan, Carl" | Carl Sagan | data-sort-value="Dragons of Eden, The" | The Dragons of Eden: Speculations on the Evolution of Human Intelligence | |
1979 | data-sort-value="Wilson, Edward O." | Edward O. Wilson | On Human Nature | ||
1980 | data-sort-value="Hofstadter, Douglas R." | Douglas R. Hofstadter | Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid | ||
data-sort-value="Gilbert, Sandra M. and Gubar, Susan" | Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar | data-sort-value="Madwoman in the Attic, The" | The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination | ||
data-sort-value="Thomas, Lewis" | Lewis Thomas | data-sort-value="Medusa and the Snail, The" | The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher | ||
1981 | data-sort-value="Schorske, Carl E." | Carl E. Schorske | Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and Culture | ||
data-sort-value="Kingston, Maxine Hong" | Maxine Hong Kingston | China Men | |||
data-sort-value="Manchester, William" | William Manchester | Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War | |||
data-sort-value="Frady, Marshall" | Marshall Frady | Southerners: A Journalist's Odyssey | |||
1982 | data-sort-value="Kidder, Tracy" | Tracy Kidder | data-sort-value="Soul of a New Machine, The" | The Soul of a New Machine | |
data-sort-value="McPhee, John" | John McPhee | Basin and Range | |||
data-sort-value="Trilling, Diana" | Diana Trilling | Mrs. Harris: The Death of the Scarsdale Diet Doctor | |||
1983 | data-sort-value="Sheehan, Susan" | Susan Sheehan | Is There No Place on Earth for Me? | ||
data-sort-value="Johnson, Diane" | Diane Johnson | Terrorists and Novelists | |||
data-sort-value="Schell, Jonathan" | Jonathan Schell | data-sort-value="Fate of the Earth, The" | The Fate of the Earth | ||
1984 | data-sort-value="Starr, Paul" | Paul Starr | data-sort-value="Social Transformation of American Medicine, The" | The Social Transformation of American Medicine | |
data-sort-value="Groom, Winston and Spencer, Duncan" | Winston Groom and Duncan Spencer | Conversations with the Enemy | |||
data-sort-value="Jacoby, Susan" | Susan Jacoby | Wild Justice | |||
1985 | data-sort-value="Terkel, Studs" | Studs Terkel | data-sort-value="Good War: An Oral History of World War Two, The" | The Good War: An Oral History of World War Two | |
data-sort-value="Keene, Donald" | Donald Keene | Dawn to the West: Japanese Literature in the Modern Era | |||
data-sort-value="Kwitny, Jonathan" | Jonathan Kwitny | Endless Enemies: The Making of an Unfriendly World | |||
1986 | data-sort-value="Lukas, J. Anthony" | J. Anthony Lukas | Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families | ||
data-sort-value="Lelyveld, Joseph" | Joseph Lelyveld | Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White | |||
data-sort-value="Bellah, Robert N." | Robert N. Bellah | Habits and the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life | |||
1987 | data-sort-value="Shipler, David K." | David K. Shipler | |||
data-sort-value="McFadden, Cyra" | Cyra McFadden | Rain or Shine: A Family Memoir | |||
data-sort-value="McPhee, John" | John McPhee | Rising from the Plains | |||
1988 | data-sort-value="Rhodes, Richard" | Richard Rhodes | data-sort-value="Making of the Atomic Bomb, The" | The Making of the Atomic Bomb | |
data-sort-value="Gleick, James" | James Gleick | ||||
data-sort-value="Callahan, Daniel" | Daniel Callahan | Setting Limits: Medical Goals in an Aging Society | |||
1989 | data-sort-value="Sheehan, Neil" | Neil Sheehan | data-sort-value="Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, A" | A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam | |
data-sort-value="Ferris, Timothy" | Timothy Ferris | Coming of Age in the Milky Way | |||
data-sort-value="Bundy, McGeorge" | McGeorge Bundy | Danger and Survival: Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty Years | |||
data-sort-value="Kohn, Howard" | Howard Kohn | data-sort-value="Last Farmer, The" | The Last Farmer | ||
1990 | data-sort-value="Maharidge, Dale and Williamson, Michael" | Dale Maharidge and Michael Williamson | And Their Children After Them | ||
data-sort-value="Fromkin, David" | David Fromkin | data-sort-value="Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922, A" | A Peace to End All Peace: Creating the Modern Middle East, 1914-1922 | ||
data-sort-value="Gould, Stephen Jay" | Stephen Jay Gould | Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History | |||
1991 | data-sort-value="Hölldobler, Bert and Wilson, Edward O." | Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson | data-sort-value="Ants, The" | The Ants | |
data-sort-value="McPhee, John" | John McPhee | Looking for a Ship | |||
data-sort-value="duBuys, William and Harris, Alex" | William duBuys and Alex Harris | River of Traps: A Village Life | |||
1992 | data-sort-value="Yergin, Daniel" | Daniel Yergin | data-sort-value="Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, The" | ||
data-sort-value="Dubus, Andre" | Andre Dubus | Broken Vessels | |||
data-sort-value="Edsall, Thomas Byrne and Edsall, Mary D." | Thomas Byrne Edsall and Mary D. Edsall | Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics | |||
1993 | data-sort-value="Wills, Garry" | Garry Wills | Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America | ||
data-sort-value="Griffin, Susan" | Susan Griffin | data-sort-value="Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War, A" | A Chorus of Stones: The Private Life of War | ||
data-sort-value="Rodriguez, Richard" | Richard Rodriguez | Days of Obligation: An Argument with My Mexican Father | |||
data-sort-value="Matthews, Anne" | Anne Matthews | Where the Buffalo Roam: Restoring America's Great Plains | |||
1994 | data-sort-value="Remnick, David" | David Remnick | |||
data-sort-value="Gay, Peter" | Peter Gay | data-sort-value="Cultivation of Hatred: The Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud, The" | The Cultivation of Hatred: The Bourgeois Experience, Victoria to Freud | ||
data-sort-value="Lukacs, John" | John Lukacs | data-sort-value="End of the Twentieth Century: And the End of the Modern Age, The" | The End of the Twentieth Century: And the End of the Modern Age | ||
1995 | data-sort-value="Weiner, Jonathan" | Jonathan Weiner | data-sort-value="Beak Of The Finch: A Story Of Evolution In Our Time, The" | The Beak Of The Finch: A Story Of Evolution In Our Time | |
data-sort-value="Nuland, Sherwin B." | Sherwin B. Nuland | How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter | |||
data-sort-value="Berendt, John" | John Berendt | Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story | |||
1996 | data-sort-value="Rosenberg, Tina" | Tina Rosenberg | data-sort-value="Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism, The" | The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism | |
data-sort-value="Dennett, Daniel C." | Daniel C. Dennett | Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and The Meanings of Life | |||
data-sort-value="Weschler, Lawrence" | Lawrence Weschler | Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder: Pronged Ants, Horned Humans, Mice on Toast, and Other Marvels of Jurassic Technology | |||
1997 | data-sort-value="Kluger, Richard" | Richard Kluger | Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris | ||
data-sort-value="Ozick, Cynthia" | Cynthia Ozick | Fame and Folly | |||
data-sort-value="Freedman, Samuel G." | Samuel G. Freedman | data-sort-value="Inheritance: How Three Families and America Moved from Roosevelt to Reagan and Beyond, The" | The Inheritance: How Three Families and America Moved from Roosevelt to Reagan and Beyond | ||
1998 | data-sort-value="Diamond, Jared" | Jared Diamond | Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies | ||
data-sort-value="Pinker, Steven" | Steven Pinker | How the Mind Works | |||
data-sort-value="Krakauer, Jon" | Jon Krakauer | Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster | |||
1999 | data-sort-value="McPhee, John" | John McPhee | Annals of the Former World | ||
data-sort-value="Currie, Elliott" | Elliott Currie | Crime and Punishment in America | |||
data-sort-value="Harris, Judith Rich" | Judith Rich Harris | data-sort-value="Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do" | The Nurture Assumption: Why Children Turn Out the Way They Do | ||
2000 | data-sort-value="Dower, John W." | John W. Dower | Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II | ||
data-sort-value="Weidensaul, Scott" | Scott Weidensaul | Living on the Wind: Across the Hemisphere with Migratory Birds | |||
data-sort-value="Greene, Brian" | Brian Greene | data-sort-value="Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory, The" | The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory | ||
2001 | data-sort-value="Bix, Herbert P." | Herbert P. Bix | Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan | ||
data-sort-value="Eggers, Dave" | Dave Eggers | data-sort-value="Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, A" | A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius | ||
data-sort-value="Conover, Ted" | Ted Conover | Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing | |||
2002 | data-sort-value="McWhorter, Diane" | Diane McWhorter | Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution | ||
data-sort-value="Solomon, Andrew" | Andrew Solomon | data-sort-value="Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, The" | The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression | ||
data-sort-value="Halberstam, David" | David Halberstam | War in a Time of Peace: Bush, Clinton, and the Generals | |||
2003 | data-sort-value="Power, Samantha" | Samantha Power | data-sort-value="Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, A" | "A Problem From Hell": America and the Age of Genocide | |
data-sort-value="Meloy, Ellen" | Ellen Meloy | data-sort-value="Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape, Art, and Spirit, The" | The Anthropology of Turquoise: Meditations on Landscape, Art, and Spirit | ||
data-sort-value="Pinker, Steven" | Steven Pinker | data-sort-value="Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, The" | The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature | ||
2004 | data-sort-value="Applebaum, Anne" | Anne Applebaum | |||
data-sort-value="Nadler, Steven" | Steven Nadler | Rembrandt's Jews | |||
data-sort-value="Priest, Dana" | Dana Priest | data-sort-value="Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America's Military, The" | The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America's Military | ||
2005 | data-sort-value="Coll, Steve" | Steve Coll | Ghost Wars | ||
data-sort-value="Suketu, Mehta" | Suketu Mehta | Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found | |||
data-sort-value="Urrea, Luis Alberto" | Luis Alberto Urrea | data-sort-value="Devil's Highway: A True Story, The" | The Devil's Highway: A True Story | ||
2006 | data-sort-value="Elkins, Caroline" | Caroline Elkins | Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya | ||
data-sort-value="Judt, Tony" | Tony Judt | ||||
data-sort-value="Packer, George" | George Packer | data-sort-value="Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq, The" | |||
2007 | data-sort-value="Wright, Lawrence" | Lawrence Wright | data-sort-value="Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, The" | The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 | |
data-sort-value="Earley, Pete" | Pete Earley | Crazy: A Father's Search Through America's Mental Health Madness | |||
data-sort-value="Ricks, Thomas E." | Thomas E. Ricks | ||||
2008 | data-sort-value="Friedländer, Saul" | Saul Friedländer | data-sort-value="Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945, The" | The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939–1945 | |
data-sort-value="Brandt, Allan M." | Allan Brandt | data-sort-value="Cigarette Century, The" | The Cigarette Century | ||
data-sort-value="Ross, Alex" | Alex Ross | data-sort-value="Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century, The" | The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century | ||
2009 | data-sort-value="Blackmon, Douglas A." | Douglas A. Blackmon | Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II | ||
data-sort-value="Herman, Arthur" | Gandhi and Churchill: The Epic Rivalry That Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age | ||||
data-sort-value="Hitchcock, William I." | William I. Hitchcock | data-sort-value="Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe, The" | The Bitter Road to Freedom: A New History of the Liberation of Europe | ||
2010 | data-sort-value="Hoffman, David E." | David E. Hoffman | data-sort-value="Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy, The" | The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy | |
data-sort-value="Cassidy, John" | John Cassidy | How Markets Fail: The Logic of Economic Calamities | |||
data-sort-value="Wright, Robert" | Robert Wright | data-sort-value="Evolution of God, The" | The Evolution of God | ||
2011 | data-sort-value="Mukherjee, Siddhartha" | Siddhartha Mukherjee | data-sort-value="Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, The" | The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer | |
data-sort-value="Gwynne, S.C." | 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 | |||
data-sort-value="Carr, Nicholas G." | Nicholas G. Carr | data-sort-value="Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, The" | The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains | ||
2012 | data-sort-value="Greenblatt, Stephen" | Stephen Greenblatt | data-sort-value="Swerve: How the World Became Modern, The" | The Swerve: How the World Became Modern | |
data-sort-value="Ackerman, Diane" | Diane Ackerman | One Hundred Names For Love: A Stroke, a Marriage, and the Language of Healing | |||
data-sort-value="Hvistendahl, Mara" | Mara Hvistendahl | Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men | |||
2013 | data-sort-value="King, Gilbert" | Gilbert King | Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys, and the Dawn of a New America | ||
data-sort-value="Boo, Katherine" | Katherine Boo | Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity | |||
data-sort-value="Haskell, David George" | David George Haskell | data-sort-value="Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature, The" | The Forest Unseen: A Year's Watch in Nature | ||
2014 | data-sort-value="Fagin, Dan" | Dan Fagin | Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation | ||
data-sort-value="Bass, Gary J." | Gary J. Bass | data-sort-value="Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide, The" | |||
data-sort-value="Kaplan, Fred" | Fred Kaplan | The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War | |||
2015 | data-sort-value="Kolbert, Elizabeth" | Elizabeth Kolbert | data-sort-value="Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, The" | ||
data-sort-value="Osnos, Evan" | Evan Osnos | Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China | |||
data-sort-value="Gopal, Anand" | Anand Gopal | No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War Through Afghan Eyes | |||
2016 | data-sort-value="Warrick, Joby" | Joby Warrick | |||
data-sort-value="Coates, Ta-Nehisi" | Ta-Nehisi Coates | Between the World and Me | |||
data-sort-value="Power, Carla" | Carla Power | If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran | |||
2017 | data-sort-value="Desmond, Matthew" | Matthew Desmond | |||
data-sort-value="Donvan, John and Zucker, Caren" | John Donvan and Caren Zucker | In a Different Key: The Story of Autism | |||
data-sort-value="McElya, Micki" | Micki McElya | data-sort-value="Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery, The" | The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery | ||
2018 | data-sort-value="Forman Jr., James" | James Forman Jr. | Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America | ||
data-sort-value="Hansen, Suzy" | Suzy Hansen | Notes on a Foreign Country: An American Abroad in a Post-America World | |||
data-sort-value="Prum, Richard o." | Richard O. Prum | data-sort-value="Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World-And Us, The" | The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World - And Us | ||
2019 | data-sort-value="Griswold, Eliza" | Eliza Griswold | |||
data-sort-value="Yeung, Bernice" | Bernice Yeung | In a Day's Work: The Fight to End Sexual Violence Against America's Most Vulnerable Workers | |||
data-sort-value="Rush, Elizabeth" | Elizabeth Rush | Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore | |||
2020 | data-sort-value="Grandin, Greg" | Greg Grandin | data-sort-value="End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America, The" | ||
data-sort-value="Boyer, Anne" | Anne Boyer | data-sort-value="Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care, The" | |||
data-sort-value="Aronson, Louise" | Louise Aronson | Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life | |||
data-sort-value="Woodfox, Albert with George, Leslie" | Albert Woodfox with Leslie George | Solitary | |||
2021 | data-sort-value="Zucchino, David" | David Zucchino | |||
data-sort-value="Hong, Cathy Park" | Cathy Park Hong | ||||
data-sort-value="Murdoch, Sierra Crane" | Sierra Crane Murdoch | Yellow Bird: Oil, Murder, and a Woman's Search for Justice in Indian Country | |||
2022 | data-sort-value="Elliot, Andrea" | Andrea Elliott | |||
data-sort-value="Power, Carla" | Carla Power | Home, Land, Security: Deradicalization and the Journey Back from Extremism | |||
data-sort-value="Prager, Joshua" | Joshua Prager | ||||
2023 | data-sort-value="Samuels, Robert" | Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa | His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice | ||
data-sort-value="Jing Tsu" | Jing Tsu | ||||
data-sort-value="Haskell, David" | David George Haskell | ||||
data-sort-value="Villarosa, Linda" | Linda Villarosa | ||||
2024 | data-sort-value="Thrall, Nathan" | Nathan Thrall | A Day in the Life of Abed Salama: Anatomy of a Jerusalem Tragedy | ||
data-sort-value="Vaillant, John" | John Vaillant | Fire Weather: A True Story From a Hotter World | |||
data-sort-value="Kara, Siddharth" | Siddharth Kara | Cobalt Red: How the Blood of the Congo Powers Our Lives | |||