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Pulitzer Prize for Biography

American award for distinguished biographies

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." Award winners receive US$15,000.

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 by an American author or co-authors, published during the preceding calendar year. It is one of the original Pulitzers. The program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year.

Recipients

In its first 97 years to 2013, the Biography Pulitzer was awarded 97 times. Two were given in 1938, and none in 1962.

1910s-1940s

YearAuthorTitleRef.191719181919192019211922192319241925192619271928192919301931193219331934193519361937193819391940194119421943194419451946194719481949
and Maud Howe Elliott, assisted by Florence Howe HallJulia Ward Howe
Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed
†
, 4 vols.
From Immigrant to Inventor
Barrett Wendell and His Letters
, 2 vols.
Whitman
Charles W. Eliot, President of Harvard University, 1869–1901
Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography
Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage
John Hay
R. E. Lee
Hamilton Fish
Andrew Jackson, 2 vols.
Pedlar's Progress: The Life of Bronson Alcott
Benjamin Franklin
Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. Vols. VII and VIII
Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758: a biography
Crusader in Crinoline: The Life of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Admiral of the Ocean Sea
The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F. B. Morse
George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel
Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir
†The Autobiography of William Allen White
Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow
Roosevelt and Hopkins

1950s-1970s

YearAuthorTitleRef.1950195119521953195419551956195719581959196019611962No award presented19631964196519661967196819691970197119721973197419751976197719781979
John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy
John C. Calhoun: American Portrait
Charles Evans Hughes
Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803
Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Profiles in Courage
† with John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells AshworthGeorge Washington, vols. I-VII
Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet
John Paul Jones
Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War
Henry James
John Keats
Henry Adams, 3 vols.
Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain
Memoirs
Huey Long
Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915–1938,
Eleanor and Franklin
Luce and His Empire
O'Neill, Son and Artist
Edith Wharton: A Biography
Samuel Johnson
Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews

1980s

Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year.

YearAuthorTitleResultRef.1980198119821983198419851986198719881989
Winner
Bernard Berenson, The Making of a ConnoisseurFinalist
Being Bernard BerensonFinalist
Finalist
Peter the Great: His Life and WorldWinner
Walt Whitman: A LifeFinalist
Walter Lippmann and the American CenturyFinalist
Grant: A BiographyWinner
Waldo EmersonFinalist
Mornings on HorsebackFinalist
Growing UpWinner
Churchill: Young Man in a Hurry, 1874–1915Finalist
Thomas E. Dewey and His TimesFinalist
Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915Winner
Thomas Carlyle: A BiographyFinalist
Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett JustFinalist
Winner
Becoming William JamesFinalist
Finalist
Louise Bogan: A PortraitWinner
George Washington Williams: A BiographyFinalist
Finalist
Bearing The Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership ConferenceWinner
Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860–1865Finalist
Finalist
Murrow: His Life and TimesFinalist
Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas WolfeWinner
HemingwayFinalist
George Santayana: A BiographyFinalist
†Oscar WildeWinner
Freud: A Life for Our TimeFinalist
Finalist
Finalist

1990s

YearAuthor(s)TitleResultRef.1990199119921993199419951996199719981999
Machiavelli in HellWinner
Finalist
Clear Pictures: First Loves, First GuidesFinalist
Finalist
and Gregory White SmithJackson Pollock: An American SagaWinner
Finalist
Alfred I. Du Pont: The Man and His FamilyFinalist
Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller Jr.Winner
Frederick DouglassFinalist
Orwell: The Authorized BiographyFinalist
TrumanWinnerdate=2022-08-12title=Rediscover: David McCulloughurl=https://shelf-awareness.com/www.shelf-awareness.com/sar-issue.html?issue=1135access-date=2023-05-10website=Shelf Awareness}}
Genius: The Life and Science of Richard FeynmanFinalist
Kissinger: A BiographyFinalist
W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868–1919Winner
In Extremis: The Life of Laura RidingFinalist
Genet: A BiographyFinalist
Harriet Beecher Stowe: A LifeWinner
Hugo Black: A BiographyFinalist
Saint-Exupery: A BiographyFinalistdate=2014-01-13title=Awards: BIO Winner; Story Prize Finalists; NBCC Finalistsurl=https://www.shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=2164access-date=2023-05-10website=Shelf Awarenessarchive-date=March 20, 2023archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320024139/https://shelf-awareness.com/issue.html?issue=2164url-status=live }}
God: A BiographyWinner
John Sloan: Painter and RebelFinalist
Mozart: A LifeFinalist
Angela's Ashes: A MemoirWinner
In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown CountryFinalist
Herman Melville: A Biography, Volume 1, 1819–1851Finalist
Personal HistoryWinner
Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public-Private LifeFinalist
Whittaker Chambers: A BiographyFinalist
LindberghWinner
At Home with the Marquis de Sade: A LifeFinalist
Finalist

2000s

YearAuthor(s)TitleResult2000200120022003200420052006200720082009
Vera, Mrs. Vladimir NabokovWinner
Clear Springs: A MemoirFinalist
Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and LoveFinalist
W. E. B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and the American Century 1919-1963Winner
Finalist
Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned MusicianFinalist
John AdamsWinner
Finalist
GrantFinalist
Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon JohnsonWinner
Finalist
Beethoven: The Music and the LifeFinalist
Khrushchev: The Man and His EraWinner
Isaac NewtonFinalist
Arshile Gorky: His Life and WorkFinalist
and Annalyn Swande Kooning: An American MasterWinner
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became ShakespeareFinalist
Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of AmericaFinalist
and Martin J. SherwinAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert OppenheimerWinner
Finalist
Finalist
Winner
John Wilkes: The Scandalous Father of Civil LibertyFinalist
Andrew CarnegieFinalist
Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her FatherWinner
Finalist
Finalist
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White HouseWinner
Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano RooseveltFinalist
Finalist

2010s

YearAuthor(s)TitleResultRef.2010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Winner
Cheever: A LifeFinalist
Woodrow Wilson: A BiographyFinalist
Washington: A LifeWinner
Finalist
Mrs. Adams in Winter: A Journey in the Last Days of NapoleonFinalist
George F. Kennan: An American LifeWinner
Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a RevolutionFinalist
Malcolm X: A Life of ReinventionFinalist
Winnerlast=Habashfirst=Gabedate=2013-04-15title=2013 Pulitzer Prize: 'Orphan Master' Brings Fiction Prize Backurl=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/56832-2013-pulitzer-prize-orphan-master-brings-fiction-prize-back.htmlaccess-date=2023-05-10website=Publishers Weeklylanguage=enarchive-date=January 26, 2021archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210126191934/https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/56832-2013-pulitzer-prize-orphan-master-brings-fiction-prize-back.htmlurl-status=live }}
Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American MasterpieceFinalist
Finalist
Margaret Fuller: A New American LifeWinner
Jonathan Swift: His Life and His WorldFinalist
Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century LifeFinalist
Winner
Louis Armstrong: Master of ModernismFinalist
Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928Finalist
Barbarian Days: A Surfing LifeWinner
Finalist
Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New AmericaFinalist
Winner
In the DarkroomFinalist
When Breath Becomes AirFinalist
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls WilderWinnertitle=2018 Pulitzer Prize Winnersurl=http://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2018website=Pulitzer Prizeaccess-date=April 16, 2019archive-date=September 11, 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911080447/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2018url-status=live }}
Richard Nixon: The LifeFinalist
Robert Lowell, Setting the River on Fire: A Study of Genius, Mania, and CharacterFinalist
Winnertitle=2019 Pulitzer Prize Winnersurl=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2019website=Pulitzer Prizeaccess-date=April 16, 2019archive-date=July 26, 2019archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190726100152/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2019url-status=live }}
Finalist
Proust's Duchess: How Three Celebrated Women Captured the Imagination of Fin-de-Siècle ParisFinalist

2020s

YearAuthor(s)WorkResultRef202020212022202320242025
Sontag: Her Life and WorkWinnertitle=2020 Pulitzer Prize Winnersurl=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2020website=Pulitzer Prizeaccess-date=May 5, 2020archive-date=July 30, 2020archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730234718/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2020url-status=live }}
Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American CenturyFinalist
Parisian Lives: Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, and MeFinalist
† and Tamara PayneWinnertitle=2021 Pulitzer Prize Winnersurl=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2021website=Pulitzer Prizeaccess-date=June 11, 2021archive-date=July 11, 2022archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220711134532/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2021url-status=live }}
Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia PlathFinalist
Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her WorldFinalist
† and Erin I. KellyChasing Me to My Grave: An Artist's Memoir of the Jim Crow SouthWinnertitle=2022 Pulitzer Prize Winnersurl=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2022website=Pulitzer Prizeaccess-date=May 12, 2022archive-date=August 2, 2022archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220802013936/https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-year/2022url-status=live }}
Pessoa: A BiographyFinalist
Finalist
G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American CenturyWinnerlast=Stewartfirst=Sophiadate=2023-05-08title='Demon Copperhead,' 'Trust,' 'His Name Is George Floyd' Among 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winnersurl=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/awards-and-prizes/article/92233-demon-copperhead-trust-his-name-is-george-floyd-among-2023-pulitzer-prize-winners.htmlaccess-date=2023-05-10website=Publishers Weeklylanguage=en}}
Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th CenturyFinalist
and Toluse OlorunnipaHis Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial JusticeFinalist
King: A LifeWinnerlast=op de Beeckfirst=Nathaliedate=2024-05-06title='Night Watch,' 'A Day in the Life of Abed Salama,' 'King' Among 2024 Pulitzer Prize Winnersaccess-date=2024-05-08website=Publishers Weeklylanguage=en}}{{Cite webdate=2024-05-07title=2024 Pulitzer Prize Winnersaccess-date=2023-05-08website=Shelf Awareness}}'''
Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to FreedomWinner****
Larry McMurtry: A LifeFinalist****
Every Living Thing: The Great and Deadly Race to Know All LifeWinner
John Lewis: A LifeFinalist
The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New YorkerFinalist

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.

References

References

  1. "Biography".
  2. "Biography: Prize Winners by Category".
  3. "1917".
  4. (2015-01-13). "Obituary Note: Carleton Mabee".
  5. (2017-06-02). "Rediscover: Profiles in Courage".
  6. McDowell, Edwin. (May 11, 1984). "Publishing: Pulitzer Controversies". The New York Times.
  7. (2007-03-01). "Notes: Schlesinger Dies; New Bookstore Collective".
  8. (2014-03-05). "Obituary Notes: Justin Kaplan; Sherwin B. Nuland".
  9. (2006-09-15). "Share the Wealth of All the King's Men".
  10. (2017-08-08). "Rediscover: The Power Broker".
  11. (2019-12-10). "Rediscover: Robert K. Massie".
  12. (2019-12-04). "Obituary Note: Robert K. Massie".
  13. (2019-12-20). "Obituary Note: William McFeely".
  14. (2019-01-24). "Obituary Note: Russell Baker".
  15. (2017-07-12). "Obituary Note: Kenneth Silverman".
  16. (2019-10-18). "Obituary Note: Michael Mott".
  17. Houston. (2012-01-13). "Awards: BIO Winner".
  18. (2014-04-16). "Obituary Note: Gregory White Smith".
  19. (2022-08-12). "Rediscover: David McCullough".
  20. (2021-02-01). "Awards: BIO Winner; PROSE Categories".
  21. (2014-01-13). "Awards: BIO Winner; Story Prize Finalists; NBCC Finalists".
  22. (2020-10-16). "Obituary Note: Maynard Solomon".
  23. (2018-01-19). "Rediscover: Personal History".
  24. (1998-04-20). "PW: Roth, Kakutani Awarded Pulitzers".
  25. (2018-09-25). "Rediscover: Lindbergh".
  26. Zeitchik, Steven M.. (1999-04-19). "FSG Leads Pulitzer Winners".
  27. (2001-04-23). "Chabon, Ellis Win Pulitzers".
  28. (2019-09-26). "Obituary Note: Jean Edward Smith".
  29. (2022-02-15). "Awards: BIO Winner".
  30. (2017-01-11). "Obituary Notes: Arthur H. Cash; Michel Déon".
  31. (2009-04-21). "Awards: The Pulitzers; Orange Prize Shortlist".
  32. (2009-04-20). "The 2009 Pulitzer Prizes for Letters and Drama".
  33. (2010-04-13). "Awards: The Pulitzers".
  34. (2016-06-03). "Rediscover: Alexander Hamilton".
  35. (2011-04-19). "Awards: Pulitzer, Lukas Winners".
  36. (2012-04-17). "Awards: Pulitzer Winners; Orange Prize Shortlist".
  37. Habash, Gabe. (2012-04-16). "2012 Pulitzer Prize: No Fiction Award, Jurors 'Shocked'".
  38. Habash, Gabe. (2013-04-15). "2013 Pulitzer Prize: 'Orphan Master' Brings Fiction Prize Back".
  39. (2014-04-15). "Awards: Pulitzer Winners; Thwaites Wainwright Nature & Travel Writing".
  40. (2014-04-14). "Tartt, Fagin Take 2014 Pulitzers".
  41. (2015-04-24). "Media Heat: Pulitzer-Winner David I. Kertzer on Fresh Air".
  42. (2015-04-21). "Doerr, Kolbert Among 2015 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  43. (2016-04-19). "Debut Novel Among 2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  44. (2016-11-29). "Awards: William Hill Sports Book".
  45. (2017-04-11). "The Underground Railroad Among Pulitzer Winners".
  46. Maher, John. (2017-04-10). "Whitehead, Thompson Among 2017 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  47. "2018 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  48. (2018-04-17). "Andrew Sean Greer, James Forman Jr. Among Pulitzer Winners".
  49. "2019 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  50. (2019-04-16). "Richard Powers, David W. Blight Among Pulitzer Winners".
  51. "2020 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  52. (2020-05-05). "The Nickel Boys Among Pulitzer Winners".
  53. Maher, John. (2020-05-04). "Moser, Whitehead, McDaniel, Grandin, Boyer, Brown Win 2020 Pulitzers".
  54. "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  55. (2021-06-14). "2021 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  56. (2021-06-11). "Pulitzer Prize: 2021 Winners List". [[The New York Times]].
  57. "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  58. Maher, John. (2022-05-09). "'The Netanyahus,' 'frank: sonnets' Among 2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  59. (2022-05-10). "2022 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  60. Stewart, Sophia. (2023-05-08). "'Demon Copperhead,' 'Trust,' 'His Name Is George Floyd' Among 2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners".
  61. (2023-05-09). "2023 Pulitzer Prize Winners Include Kingsolver's Demon Copperhead, Diaz's Trust".
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