David Maraniss ( ; born August 6, 1949) is an American award-winning journalist and author, currently serving as an associate editor for ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. Maraniss is the author of numerous books, ranging from politics to sports. He has written books on

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

head coach

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi ( ; June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American professional football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be among the greatest coaches and leaders in Ame ...

, Baseball Hall of Famer

Roberto Clemente Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball player who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates, primarily as a right fielder. On December ...

, the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

, and on U.S. Presidents

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

and

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Personal life

Maraniss was born in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

to Elliot and Mary Maraniss. He attended the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. Maraniss and his wife Linda, married in 1969 and had two children; they live in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

. His son, Andrew Maraniss is also an author and was on the ''New York Times'' bestseller list in 2015.

Career

Maraniss began his career as reporter at ''

The Capital Times ''The Capital Times'' (or ''Cap Times'') is a weekly newspaper published Wednesday in Madison, Wisconsin, by The Capital Times Company. The company also owns 50 percent of Capital Newspapers, which now does business as Madison Media Partners. ...

'' in Madison, and later worked at the ''

Trenton Times ''The Times'', also known as ''The Times of Trenton'' and ''The Trenton Times'', is a daily newspaper owned by Advance Publications that serves Trenton and the Mercer County, New Jersey area, with a strong focus on the government of New Jersey ...

''. For ''The Washington Post'', he won 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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily ...

in 1993, for his "revealing articles on the life and political records" of

, then a presidential candidate. He was also assigned the job of biographer for their coverage of 2008 presidential candidate,

Recognition

In 2022, Maraniss published his biography Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe, which received critical acclaim for its in-depth portrayal of the legendary athlete. The book was recognized as a finalist for the

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

for History in 2023. Continuing his involvement in journalism and academia, Maraniss returned to

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

in the Spring of 2024 as a distinguished visiting professor, co-teaching courses on political biography and sports and society alongside his son, Andrew Maraniss. He also served as a member of the jury for the 2025 Plutarch Award, presented by the

Biographers International Organization Biographers International Organization (BIO) is an international, non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization founded to promote the art and craft of biography, and to further the professional interests of its practitioners. The organization was founded in ...

. In addition to his teaching and writing, Maraniss remains active in journalism, contributing articles to

, including coverage of the 2024 U.S. presidential election.https://biographersinternational.org/topic/plutarch-award/

Bibliography

Politics

*''First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton'' (1995) *''Tell Newt to Shut Up!'' (with

Michael Weisskopf Michael Weisskopf (born 1946) is a Polk Award-winning journalist, currently working as a senior correspondent for ''Time'' magazine. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1996 for the accounts he and David Maraniss gave of the activities in 1995 followi ...

) (1996) *''The Clinton Enigma: A Four-and-a-Half Minute Speech Reveals This President's Entire Life'' (1998) *''The Prince of Tennessee: Al Gore Meets His Fate'' (2000) *'' Barack Obama: The Story'' (2012)

Sports

*'' When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi'' (1999) *''Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero'' (2006) *'' Rome 1960: The Olympics that Changed the World'' (2008) *''Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe'' (2022)

Others

*'' They Marched into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967'' (2004) *'' Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story'' (2015) *''A Good American Family: The Red Scare and My Father'' (2019)

References

External links

Official website
* 1949 births American male journalists American non-fiction writers Living people Writers from Madison, Wisconsin Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting winners The Washington Post people 20th-century American journalists Sportswriters from Michigan Sportswriters from Wisconsin Journalists from Michigan Journalists from Wisconsin American political journalists American male biographers {{US-journalist-1940s-stub