Thomas Powers (born December 12, 1940 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

) is an American author and intelligence expert. He was awarded the

Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting This Pulitzer Prize has been awarded since 1942 for a distinguished example of reporting on national affairs in the United States. In its first six years (1942–1947), it was called the Pulitzer Prize for Telegraphic Reporting – National. Li ...

in 1971 together with

Lucinda Franks Lucinda Laura Franks (July 16, 1946May 5, 2021) was an American journalist, novelist, and memoirist. Franks won a Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for her reporting on the life of Diana Oughton, a member of Weather Underground. With that award she became ...

for his articles on Weatherman member

Diana Oughton Diana Oughton (January 26, 1942 – March 6, 1970) was an American member of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) Michigan Chapter and later, a member of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground. Oughton received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr ...

(1942-1970). He was also the recipient of the Olive Branch award in 1984 for a cover story on the Cold War that appeared in ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', a 2007 Berlin Prize, and for his 2010 book on Crazy Horse the

Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History The ''Los Angeles Times'' Book Prize for History, established in 1980, is a category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Works are eligible during the year of their first US publication in English, though they may be written originally in languag ...

Life and works

Born in New York City in 1940, he was a 1958 graduate of Tabor Academy. Powers later attended

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, where he graduated in 1964 with a degree in English. At first he worked for the ''Rome Daily American'' in Italy, later for

United Press International United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20t ...

. In 1970 he became a freelance writer.Powers, ''Heisenberg's War'' (Penguin 1993) at ii, "About the Author". Powers is the author of six works of non-fiction and one novel. His ''The Man who Kept Secrets:

Richard Helms Richard McGarrah Helms (March 30, 1913 – October 23, 2002) was an American government official and diplomat who served as Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) from 1966 to 1973. Helms began intelligence work with the Office of Strategic Ser ...

and the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

'' (1979) is "widely regarded as one of the best books ever written on the subject of intelligence." His work on

Werner Heisenberg Werner Karl Heisenberg () (5 December 1901 – 1 February 1976) was a German theoretical physicist and one of the main pioneers of the theory of quantum mechanics. He published his work in 1925 in a breakthrough paper. In the subsequent serie ...

tracks secret developments in nuclear physics during the 1930s and early 1940s. The revised edition of his ''Intelligence Wars'' contains twenty-eight articles previously published in the ''New York Review of Books'' and the ''New York Times Book Review'' from 1983 to 2004. His most recent book follows the life of Crazy Horse (died Nebraska 1877).

Evan Thomas Evan Welling Thomas III (born April 25, 1951) is an American journalist, historian, and author. He is the author of nine books, including two ''New York Times'' bestsellers. Early life and career Thomas was born in Huntington, New York, and r ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', while reviewing this book, also commented broadly on Powers as an author and a previous work on

Powers is "a great journalistic anthropologist. In possibly the best book ever written about the C.I.A, ''The Man Who Kept the Secrets'', Powers took the reader on a fascinating journey into the world of secret intelligence gathering and covert action. The C.I.A. was, at least in the early years of the cold war, a tribe as mysterious and exotic as the Great Plains Sioux of the 1870s. And Powers tells us much that is revealing and often moving about the Sioux in their last days as free warriors".

Powers has been a contributor to ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

'', ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'', ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'', '' Harper's'', ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'', ''

Commonweal Commonweal or common weal may refer to: * Common good, what is shared and beneficial for members of a given community * Common Weal, a Scottish think tank and advocacy group * Commonweal (magazine), ''Commonweal'' (magazine), an American lay-Cath ...

'', and ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''. Besides writing, Powers joined a partnership to found in 1993 a publishing company
Steerforth Press
Originally located in South Royalton, Vermont, it is now located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Its website self describes as a "small independent house" with a "range of titles on a variety of topics". Powers and his wife Candace live in Vermont. In 1979 he was living with his wife and three daughters in New York City.Back flap of ''The Man who Kept the Secrets'' (Knopf 1979). "He is currently writing a memoir of his father, who once told him that the last time he met

Clare Boothe Luce Clare Boothe Luce ( Ann Clare Boothe; March 10, 1903 – October 9, 1987) was an American writer, politician, U.S. ambassador, and public conservative figure. A versatile author, she is best known for her 1936 hit play '' The Women'', which ha ...

was in the office of Allen Dulles."

Bibliography

* ''Diana: The Making of a Terrorist'', Houghton Mifflin, 1971, * ‘’The War at Home’’, Grossman, 1973 * ''The Man Who Kept the Secrets: Richard Helms and the CIA'', Knopf, 1979, * ''Thinking About the Next War'', Knopf, 1982, * * ''The Confirmation'', Knopf, 2000, , a novel * **revised and expanded edition, 2004. * *

References

External links

Powers archive
from ''

''
Friends of the Little Bighorn Battlefield review ''The Killing of Crazy Horse''American Academy per Thomas Powers
(no longer current) {{DEFAULTSORT:Powers, Thomas 1940 births Living people American reporters and correspondents The Atlantic (magazine) people Berlin Prize recipients Espionage writers Historians of the Central Intelligence Agency Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners Tabor Academy (Massachusetts) alumni Yale University alumni Fellows of the American Physical Society