The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

, is one of the seven American

Pulitzer Prizes The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had ma ...

that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished book about the

history of the United States The history of the lands that became the United States began with the arrival of the first people in the Americas around 15,000 BC. Numerous indigenous cultures formed, and many saw transformations in the 16th century away from more densely ...

. Thus it is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were awarded that year. The Pulitzer Prize program has also recognized some historical work with its Biography prize, from 1917, and its General Non-Fiction prize, from 1962. Finalists have been announced from 1980, ordinarily two others beside the winner.

Winners

In its first 97 years to 2013, the History Pulitzer was awarded 95 times. Two prizes were given in 1989; none in 1919, 1984, and 1994. Four people have won two each,

Margaret Leech Margaret Kernochan Leech (November 7, 1893 – February 24, 1974), also known as Margaret Pulitzer, was an American historian and fiction writer. She won the Pulitzer Prize for History both in 1942 (''Reveille in Washington'', Harper) (first woma ...

Bernard Bailyn Bernard Bailyn (September 10, 1922 – August 7, 2020) was an American historian, author, and academic specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1953. Bailyn won the Pulitzer Pr ...

, Paul Horgan and Alan Taylor. * 1917: ''

With Americans of Past and Present Days Jean Adrien Antoine Jules Jusserand (18 February 1855 – 18 July 1932) was a French author and diplomat. He was the French Ambassador to the United States 1903-1925 and played a major diplomatic role during World War I. Birth and education ...

'' by Jean Jules Jusserand * 1918: '' A History of the Civil War, 1861-1865'' by James Ford Rhodes * 1919: no award given

1920s

* 1920: ''

The War with Mexico ''The War with Mexico'' is a book by Justin Harvey Smith Justin Harvey Smith (born January 13, 1857, Boscawen, New Hampshire; died March 21, 1930, Brooklyn, New York) was an American historian and specialist on the Mexican–American War. Smith w ...

'' by Justin H. Smith * 1921: '' The Victory at Sea'' by William Sowden Sims and

Burton J. Hendrick Burton Jesse Hendrick (December 8, 1870 – March 23, 1949), born in New Haven, Connecticut, was an American author. While attending Yale University, Hendrick was editor of both The Yale Courant and The Yale Literary Magazine. He received his BA ...

* 1922: '' The Founding of New England'' by

James Truslow Adams James Truslow Adams (October 18, 1878 – May 18, 1949) was an American writer and historian. He was a freelance author who helped to popularize the latest scholarship about American history and his three-volume history of New England is well r ...

* 1923: '' The Supreme Court in United States History'' by

Charles Warren General Sir Charles Warren, (7 February 1840 – 21 January 1927) was an officer in the British Royal Engineers. He was one of the earliest European archaeologists of the Biblical Holy Land, and particularly of the Temple Mount. Much of his mi ...

* 1924: '' The American Revolution: A Constitutional Interpretation'' by

Charles Howard McIlwain Charles Howard McIlwain (March 15, 1871 – June 1, 1968) was an American historian and political scientist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1924. He was educated at Princeton University and Harvard University and taught at both instituti ...

* 1925: ''

History of the American Frontier History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as wel ...

'' by Frederic L. Paxson * 1926: ''

A History of the United States A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes ...

, Vol. VI: The War for Southern Independence (1849–1865)'' by

Edward Channing Edward Perkins Channing (June 15, 1856 – January 7, 1931) was an 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 i ...

* 1927: '' Pinckney's Treaty '' by Samuel Flagg Bemis * 1928: ''

Main Currents in American Thought Vernon Louis Parrington (August 3, 1871 – June 16, 1929) was an American literary historian and scholar. His three-volume history of American letters, ''Main Currents in American Thought'', won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928 and was o ...

'' by

Vernon Louis Parrington Vernon Louis Parrington (August 3, 1871 – June 16, 1929) was an American literary historian and scholar. His three-volume history of American letters, ''Main Currents in American Thought'', won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1928 and was o ...

* 1929: '' The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861–1865'' by Fred Albert Shannon

1930s

* 1930: ''

The War of Independence ''The War of Independence'' is a nonfiction history book by American historian Claude H. Van Tyne, published in 1929. It explains the history and causes of the American Revolutionary War. Van Tyne won the Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer ...

'' by

Claude H. Van Tyne Claude Halstead Van Tyne (October 16, 1869 – March 21, 1930) was an American historian. He was a senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania in 1902. He taught history at the University of Michigan from 1903 to 1930 and wrote several books o ...

* 1931: '' The Coming of the War, 1914'' by

Bernadotte E. Schmitt Bernadotte Everly Schmitt (19 May 1886 – 23 March 1969) was an American historian who was professor of Modern European History at the University of Chicago from 1924 to 1946. He is best known for his study of the causes of World War I, in whi ...

* 1932: ''

My Experiences in the World War ''My Experiences in the World War'' is the memoir of General of the Armies John J. Pershing experiences in World War I. Pershing's memoir covers two volumes. They were originally published by the Frederick A. Stokes Company of New York City, a ...

'' by John J. Pershing * 1933: '' The Significance of Sections in American History'' by Frederick J. Turner * 1934: '' The People's Choice'' by

Herbert Agar Herbert Sebastian Agar (29 September 1897 – 24 November 1980) was an American journalist and historian, and an editor of the '' Louisville Courier-Journal''. Early life Herbert Sebastian Agar was born September 29, 1897 in New Rochelle, New Yor ...

* 1935: '' The Colonial Period of American History'' by

Charles McLean Andrews Charles McLean Andrews (February 22, 1863 – September 9, 1943) was an American historian, an authority on American colonial history.Roth, David M., editor, and Grenier, Judith Arnold, associate editor, "Connecticut History and Culture: An Hist ...

* 1936: '' A Constitutional History of the United States'' by Andrew C. McLaughlin * 1937: '' The Flowering of New England, 1815–1865'' by Van Wyck Brooks * 1938: '' The Road to Reunion, 1865–1900'' by

Paul Herman Buck Paul Herman Buck (August 25, 1899 – December 23, 1978) was an American historian. He won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1938 and became the first Provost of Harvard University in 1945. Biography Buck was born in Ohio. He received a Bachelo ...

* 1939: '' A History of American Magazines'' by Frank Luther Mott

1940s

* 1940: '' Abraham Lincoln: The War Years'' by

Carl Sandburg Carl August Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American poet, biographer, journalist, and editor. He won three Pulitzer Prizes: two for his poetry and one for his biography of Abraham Lincoln. During his lifetime, Sandburg ...

* 1941: '' The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860'' by

Marcus Lee Hansen Marcus Lee Hansen (December 8, 1892 – May 11, 1938) was an American historian, who won the 1941 Pulitzer Prize for History for '' The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860'' (1940). Biography Hansen was born in Neenah, Wisconsin.Brennan & Clarage (199 ...

* 1942: '' Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865'' by

* 1943: ''

Paul Revere and the World He Lived In ''Paul Revere and the World He Lived In'' is a nonfiction history book by Esther Forbes. It won the 1943 Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for History, administered by Columbia University, is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prize ...

'' by

Esther Forbes Esther Louise Forbes (; June 28, 1891 – August 12, 1967) was an American novelist, historian and children's writer who received the Pulitzer Prize and the Newbery Medal. She was the first woman elected to membership in the American Antiquar ...

* 1944: '' The Growth of American Thought'' by

Merle Curti Merle Eugene Curti (September 15, 1897 – March 9, 1996) was a leading American historian, who taught many graduate students at Columbia University and the University of Wisconsin, and was a leader in developing the fields of social history a ...

* 1945: ''Unfinished Business'' by Stephen Bonsal * 1946: '' The Age of Jackson'' by

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Arthur Meier Schlesinger Jr. (; born Arthur Bancroft Schlesinger; October 15, 1917 – February 28, 2007) was an American historian, social critic, and public intellectual. The son of the influential historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Sr. and a s ...

* 1947: '' Scientists Against Time'' by

James Phinney Baxter III James Phinney Baxter III (February 15, 1893 in Portland, Maine – June 17, 1975 in Williamstown, Massachusetts) was an American historian, educator, and academic, who won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for History for his book ''Scientists Against Time ...

* 1948: '' Across the Wide Missouri'' by Bernard DeVoto * 1949: '' The Disruption of American Democracy'' by

Roy Franklin Nichols Roy Franklin Nichols (March 3, 1896 – January 12, 1973) was an American historian, who won the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for History for '' The Disruption of American Democracy''. Biography Nichols was born in Newark, New Jersey, to Franklin Coriell a ...

1950s

* 1950: '' Art and Life in America'' by Oliver W. Larkin * 1951: '' The Old Northwest, Pioneer Period 1815–1840'' by R. Carlyle Buley * 1952: '' The Uprooted'' by

Oscar Handlin Oscar Handlin (1915–2011) 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, virtually inventing the field of immigrat ...

* 1953: '' The Era of Good Feelings'' by

George Dangerfield George Bubb Dangerfield (28 October 1904 in Newbury, Berkshire – 27 December 1986 in Santa Barbara, California) was a British-born American journalist, historian, and the literary editor of '' Vanity Fair'' from 1933 to 1935. He is known prima ...

* 1954: ''

A Stillness at Appomattox ''A Stillness at Appomattox'' (1953) is a non-fiction history book written by Bruce Catton.

'' by Bruce Catton * 1955: '' Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History'' by Paul Horgan * 1956: '' The Age of Reform'' by

Richard Hofstadter Richard Hofstadter (August 6, 1916October 24, 1970) was an American historian and public intellectual of the mid-20th century. Hofstadter was the DeWitt Clinton Professor of American History at Columbia University. Rejecting his earlier histo ...

* 1957: '' Russia Leaves the War: Soviet-American Relations, 1917–1920'' by

George F. Kennan George Frost Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) was an American diplomat and historian. He was best known as an advocate of a policy of containment of Soviet expansion during the Cold War. He lectured widely and wrote scholarly hist ...

* 1958: '' Banks and Politics in America'' by Bray Hammond * 1959: '' The Republican Era: 1869–1901'' by

Leonard D. White Leonard Dupee White (January 17, 1891 – February 23, 1958) was an American historian who specialized in public administration in the United States. His technique was to study administration in the context of grouped U.S. presidential terms. A f ...

and Jean Schneider

1960s

* 1960: '' In the Days of McKinley'' by

* 1961: '' Between War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference'' by Herbert Feis * 1962: '' The Triumphant Empire: Thunder-Clouds Gather in the West, 1763–1766'' by

Lawrence H. Gipson Lawrence Henry Gipson (December 7, 1880 – September 26, 1971) was an American historian, who won the 1950 Bancroft Prize and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for History for volumes of his magnum opus, the fifteen-volume history of "The British Empire Be ...

* 1963: '' Washington, Village and Capital, 1800–1878'' by

Constance McLaughlin Green Constance McLaughlin Winsor Green (August 21, 1897 in Ann Arbor, Michigan – December 5, 1975 in Annapolis, Maryland) was an American historian. She who won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for History for '' Washington, Village and Capital, 1800–1878'' ...

* 1964: '' Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town'' by

Sumner Chilton Powell Sumner Chilton Powell (October 2, 1924 in Northampton, Massachusetts – July 8, 1993 in Colora, Maryland) was an American historian and history teacher at the Choate School, a college-prep boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut. He attend ...

* 1965: '' The Greenback Era'' by Irwin Unger * 1966: '' The Life of the Mind in America'' by

Perry Miller Perry Gilbert Eddy Miller (February 25, 1905 – December 9, 1963) was an American intellectual historian and a co-founder of the field of American Studies. Miller specialized in the history of early America, and took an active role in a revi ...

* 1967: '' Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West'' by William H. Goetzmann * 1968: ''

The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' is a 1967 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. Backg ...

'' by

* 1969: '' Origins of the Fifth Amendment'' by Leonard W. Levy

1970s

* 1970: '' Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department'' by

Dean Acheson Dean Gooderham Acheson (pronounced ; April 11, 1893October 12, 1971) was an American statesman and lawyer. As the 51st U.S. Secretary of State, he set the foreign policy of the Harry S. Truman administration from 1949 to 1953. He was also Truma ...

* 1971: '' Roosevelt: The Soldier Of Freedom'' by James MacGregor Burns * 1972: '' Neither Black nor White'' by Carl N. Degler * 1973: '' People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization'' by

Michael Kammen Michael Gedaliah Kammen (October 25, 1936 – November 29, 2013) was an American professor of American cultural history in the Department of History at Cornell University. At the time of his death, he held the title "Newton C. Farr professor emeri ...

* 1974: '' The Americans: The Democratic Experience'' by

Daniel J. Boorstin Daniel Joseph Boorstin (October 1, 1914 – February 28, 2004) was an American historian at the University of Chicago who wrote on many topics in American and world history. He was appointed the twelfth Librarian of the United States Congress in ...

* 1975: '' Jefferson and His Time'' by Dumas Malone * 1976: ''

Lamy of Santa Fe ''Lamy of Santa Fe'' is a 1975 biography of Catholic Archbishop Jean Baptiste Lamy, written by American author Paul Horgan and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The book won the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for History The Pulitzer Prize for Histo ...

'' by Paul Horgan * 1977: '' The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861'' by David M. Potter (Completed and edited by Don E. Fehrenbacher) * 1978: '' The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business'' by Alfred D. Chandler, Jr. * 1979: '' The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics'' by Don E. Fehrenbacher

1980s

Entries from this point on include the finalists listed after the winner for each year. * 1980: '' Been in the Storm So Long'' by Leon F. Litwack ** '' The Plains Across'' by John B. Unruh ** ''The Urban Crucible'' by

Gary B. Nash Gary Baring Nash (July 27, 1933 – July 29, 2021) was an American historian. He concentrated on the Revolutionary period, slavery and race, as well as the formation of political communities in Philadelphia and other cities. Life and education Na ...

* 1981: '' American Education: The National Experience, 1783–1876'' by

Lawrence A. Cremin Lawrence Arthur Cremin (October 31, 1925 – September 4, 1990) was an educational historian and administrator. Biography Cremin attended Townsend Harris High School in Queens, and then received his B.A. and M.A. from City College of New York. ...

** ''A Search for Power: The 'Weaker Sex' in Seventeenth Century New England'' by Lyle Koehler ** ''Over Here: The First World War and American Society'' by David M. Kennedy * 1982: '' Mary Chesnut's Civil War'' by

C. Vann Woodward Comer Vann Woodward (November 13, 1908 – December 17, 1999) was an American historian who focused primarily on the American South and race relations. He was long a supporter of the approach of Charles A. Beard, stressing the influence of unse ...

** ''Power and Culture: The Japanese-American War, 1941–1945'' by

Akira Iriye is a historian of diplomatic history, international, and transnational history. He taught at University of Chicago and Harvard University until his retirement in 2005. In 1988 he served as president of the American Historical Association, the ...

** ''White Supremacy: A Comparative Study in American & South African History'' by George M. Fredrickson * 1983: '' The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790'' by Rhys L. Isaac ** ''Southern Honor: Ethics & Behavior in the Old South'' by Bertram Wyatt-Brown ** ''The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution, 1763–1789'' by

Robert Middlekauff Robert Lawrence Middlekauff (July 5, 1929 – March 10, 2021) was a professor of colonial and early United States history at the University of California, Berkeley. Career In 1983, Middlekauff became the President of Huntington Library, Art ...

* 1984: no award given * 1985: '' Prophets of Regulation'' by

Thomas K. McCraw Thomas Kincaid McCraw (September 11, 1940 – November 3, 2012) was an American business historian and Isidor Straus Professor of Business History, Emeritus at Harvard Business School, who won the 1985 Pulitzer Prize for History for '' Prophets o ...

** ''The Crucible of Race'' by Joel Williamson ** ''The Great Father: The United States Government and the American Indians'' by

Francis Paul Prucha Francis Paul Prucha (January 4, 1921 – July 30, 2015) was an American historian, professor ''emeritus'' of history at Marquette University, and specialist in the relationship between the United States and Native Americans. His work, ''The Great ...

* 1986: '' ...the Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age'' by Walter A. McDougall ** ''Emigrants and Exiles: Ireland and the Irish Exodus to North America'' by Kerby A. Miller ** ''Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work and the Family from Slavery to the Present'' by

Jacqueline Jones Jacqueline Jones (born 17 June 1948) is an American social historian. She held the Walter Prescott Webb Chair in History and Ideas from 2008 to 2017 and is Mastin Gentry White Professor of Southern History at the University of Texas at Austin. ...

** ''Novus Ordo Seclorum: the Intellectual Origins of the Constitution'' by Forrest McDonald * 1987: '' Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution'' by

** ''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' by

David Garrow David Jeffries Garrow (born May 11, 1953) is an American author and historian. He wrote the book ''Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference'' (1986), which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biogr ...

** ''Eisenhower: At War, 1943–1945'' by

David Eisenhower Dwight David Eisenhower II (born March 31, 1948) is an American author, public policy fellow, professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and eponym of the U.S. presidential retreat Camp David. He is the grandson of President Dwight D. Eisenho ...

* 1988: '' The Launching of Modern American Science, 1846–1876'' by Robert V. Bruce ** ''The Care of Strangers: The Rise of America's Hospital System'' by Charles E. Rosenberg ** '' The Fall of the House of Labor'' by David Montgomery * 1989: '' Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era'' by

James M. McPherson James Munro McPherson (born October 11, 1936) 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 ...

* 1989: '' Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954–1963'' by Taylor Branch ** ''

A Bright Shining Lie ''A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam'' (1988) is a book by Neil Sheehan, a former '' New York Times'' reporter, about U.S. Army lieutenant colonel John Paul Vann (killed in action) and the United States' involvement in ...

: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam'' by Neil Sheehan ** ''Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877'' by Eric Foner

1990s

* 1990: '' In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines'' by Stanley Karnow ** ''American Genesis: A Century of Invention and Technological Enthusiasm 1870–1970'' by

Thomas P. Hughes Thomas Parke Hughes (September 13, 1923 – February 3, 2014) was an American historian of technology. He was an emeritus professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania and a visiting professor at MIT and Stanford. He received his Ph.D. ...

** ''The Image of the Black in Western Art, Volume IV: From the American Revolution to World War I'' by

Hugh Honour Hugh Honour FRSL (26 September 1927 – 19 May 2016) was a British art historian, known for his writing partnership with John Fleming. Their ''A World History of Art'' (a.k.a. ''The Visual Arts: A History''), is now in its seventh edition and H ...

* 1991: ''

A Midwife's Tale Martha Moore Ballard (February 9, 1735 – June 9, 1812) was an American midwife and healer. Unusually for the time, Ballard kept a diary with thousands of entries over nearly three decades, which has provided historians with invaluable insi ...

'' by

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (born July 11, 1938) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian specializing in early America and the history of women, and a professor at Harvard University. Her approach to history has been described as a tribute ...

** ''America in 1857: A Nation on the Brink'' by Kenneth M. Stampp ** ''Making a New Deal: Industrial Workers in Chicago, 1919–1939'' by

Lizabeth Cohen Lizabeth Cohen is the current Howard Mumford Jones Professor of American Studies in the History Department at Harvard University, as well as a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor. From 2011-2018 she served as the Dean of Harvard's ...

** ''The Civil Rights Era: Origins and Development of National Policy'' by Hugh David Graham * 1992: '' The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties'' by Mark E. Neely, Jr. ** ''A Very Thin Line: The Iran-Contra Affairs'' by

Theodore Draper Theodore H. Draper (September 11, 1912 – February 21, 2006) was an American historian and political writer. Draper is best known for the 14 books he completed during his life, including work regarded as seminal on the formative period of the Am ...

** ''Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West'' by

William Cronon William Cronon (born September 11, 1954 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an environmental historian and the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madi ...

** ''Profits in the Wilderness: Entrepreneurship and the Founding of New England Towns in the Seventeenth Century'' by John Frederick Martin ** ''The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815'' by Richard White * 1993: '' The Radicalism of the American Revolution'' by Gordon S. Wood ** '' Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America'' by

Garry Wills Garry Wills (born May 22, 1934) is an American author, journalist, political philosopher, and historian, specializing in American history, politics, and religion, especially the history of the Catholic Church. He won a Pulitzer Prize for Genera ...

** ''The Promise of the New South: Life After Reconstruction'' by Edward L. Ayers * 1994: no award given ** ''Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK'' by

Gerald Posner Gerald Leo Posner (born May 20, 1954) is an American investigative journalist and author of thirteen books, including ''Case Closed: Lee Harvey Oswald and the Assassination of JFK'' (1993), which explores the John F. Kennedy assassination, and ...

** ''Crime and Punishment in American History'' by Lawrence M. Friedman ** ''William Faulkner and Southern History'' by Joel Williamson * 1995: '' No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II'' by

Doris Kearns Goodwin Doris Helen Kearns Goodwin (born January 4, 1943) is an American biographer, historian, former sports journalist, and political commentator. She has written biographies of several U.S. presidents, including ''Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream ...

** ''Lincoln in American Memory'' by Merrill D. Peterson ** ''Stories of Scottsboro'' by James Goodman * 1996: '' William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic'' by Alan Taylor ** ''Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb'' by

Richard Rhodes Richard Lee Rhodes (born July 4, 1937) is an American historian, journalist, and author of both fiction and non-fiction, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning ''The Making of the Atomic Bomb'' (1986), and most recently, ''Energy: A Human Histor ...

** ''The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic'' by

Lance Banning Lance Banning (January 24, 1942 – January 31, 2006) was an American historian who specialized in studying the politics of the United States' Founding Fathers. He taught mostly at the University of Kentucky. Life Banning was a native of Kan ...

* 1997: '' Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution'' by Jack N. Rakove ** ''Founding Mothers and Fathers'' by

Mary Beth Norton Mary Beth Norton (born 1943) is an American historian, specializing in American colonial history and well known for her work on women's history and the Salem witch trials. She is the Mary Donlon Alger Professor Emeritus of American History at t ...

** ''The Battle for Christmas'' by Stephen Nissenbaum * 1998: '' Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion'' by Edward J. Larson ** '' Big Trouble: A Murder in a Small Western Town Sets Off a Struggle for the Soul of America'' by

J. Anthony Lukas Jay Anthony Lukas (April 25, 1933 – June 5, 1997) was an American journalist and author, probably best known for his 1985 book '' Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families''. ''Common Ground'' is a classic study ...

** ''Civic Ideals: Conflicting Visions of Citizenship in U.S. History'' by

Rogers Smith Rogers M. Smith (born September 20, 1953) is an American political scientist and author noted for his research and writing on American constitutional and political development and political thought, with a focus on issues of citizenship and rac ...

* 1999: '' Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898'' by Edwin G. Burrows and

Mike Wallace Myron Leon Wallace (May 9, 1918 – April 7, 2012) was an American journalist, game show host, actor, and media personality. He interviewed a wide range of prominent newsmakers during his seven-decade career. He was one of the original correspo ...

** ''In a Barren Land: American Indian Dispossession and Survival'' by Paula Mitchell Marks ** ''This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age'' by William E. Burrows

2000s

* 2000: '' Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945'' by David M. Kennedy ** ''The Cousins' Wars: Religion, Politics and the Triumph of Anglo-America'' by Kevin Phillips ** ''Into the American Woods: Negotiators on the Pennsylvania Frontier'' by

James H. Merrell James Hart Merrell (born 1953 in Minnesota) is the Lucy Maynard Salmon Professor of History at Vassar College. Merrell is primarily a scholar of early American history, and has written extensively on Native American history during the colonial er ...

* 2001: '' Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation'' by

Joseph J. Ellis Joseph John-Michael Ellis III (born July 18, 1943) is an American historian whose work focuses on the lives and times of the founders of the United States of America. '' American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson'' won a National Boo ...

** ''The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States'' by Alexander Keyssar ** ''Way Out There in the Blue'' by Frances FitzGerald * 2002: '' The Metaphysical Club: A Story of Ideas in America'' by

Louis Menand Louis Menand (; born January 21, 1952) is an American critic, essayist, and professor, best known for his Pulitzer-winning book '' The Metaphysical Club'' (2001), 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. Richter * 2003: '' An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa 1942–1943'' by

Rick Atkinson Lawrence Rush "Rick" Atkinson IV (born November 15, 1952) is an American author, most recently of ''The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775–1777'', the first volume in the Revolution Trilogy. He has won Pulit ...

** ''At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America'' by

Philip Dray Philip Dray is an American writer and historian, known for his comprehensive analyses of American scientific, racial, and labor history. Awards Dray's work ''At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America'' won the Robert F. Ken ...

** ''Rereading Sex: Battles Over Sexual Knowledge and Suppression in Nineteenth Century America'' by

Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz Helen Lefkowitz Horowitz (born 31 Jan. 1942) is an American historian and the Sydenham Clark Parsons Professor of American Studies and History, emerita, at Smith College. Early life and education Horowitz was born on 31 Jan. 1942 in Shreveport, ...

* 2004: ''

A Nation Under Our Feet ''A 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. The book is a history of the changing nature of African-American p ...

'' by Steven Hahn ** '' Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center'' by

Daniel Okrent Daniel Okrent (born April 2, 1948) is an American writer and editor. He is best known for having served as the first public editor of ''The New York Times'' newspaper, inventing Rotisserie League Baseball, and for writing several books (such as ...

** '' They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967'' by

David Maraniss David Maraniss ( ; born 1949) is an American journalist and author, currently serving as an associate editor for ''The Washington Post''. Career ''The Washington Post'' assigned Maraniss the job of biographer for their coverage of 2008 president ...

* 2005: ''

Washington's Crossing Washington's Crossing is the location of George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River on the night of December 25–26, 1776 in the American Revolutionary War. This daring maneuver led to victory in the Battle of Trenton and altered the cou ...

'' by

David Hackett Fischer David Hackett Fischer (born December 2, 1935) is University Professor of History Emeritus at Brandeis University. Fischer's major works have covered topics ranging from large macroeconomic and cultural trends ('' Albion's Seed,'' ''The Great Wave' ...

** '' 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'Brien * 2006: '' Polio: An American Story'' by

David Oshinsky David M. Oshinsky (born 1944) is an American historian. He is the director of the Division of Medical Humanities at NYU School of Medicine and a professor in the Department of History at New York University. Background Oshinsky graduated from C ...

** ''New York Burning'' by

Jill Lepore Jill Lepore is an American historian and journalist. She is the David Woods Kemper '41 Professor of American History at Harvard University and a staff writer at ''The New Yorker'', where she has contributed since 2005. She writes about American ...

** ''The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln'' by

Sean Wilentz Robert Sean Wilentz (; born February 20, 1951) is the George Henry Davis 1886 Professor of American History at Princeton University, where he has taught since 1979. His primary research interests include U.S. social and political history in the ...

* 2007: ''

The Race Beat ''The 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 Civil Rights Movement in the United ...

'' by Gene Roberts and

Hank Klibanoff Hank Klibanoff (born March 26, 1949 in Florence, Alabama) is an American journalist, now a professor at Emory University. He and Gene Roberts won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for History for the book '' The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Str ...

** ''Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War'' by Nathaniel Philbrick ** ''Middle Passages: African American Journeys to Africa, 1787-2005'' by James T. Campbell * 2008: '' What Hath God Wrought: the Transformation of America, 1815–1848'' by

Daniel Walker Howe Daniel Walker Howe (born January 10, 1937) is an American historian who specializes in the early national period of U.S. history, with a particular interest in its intellectual and religious dimensions. He was Rhodes Professor of American Histor ...

** '' The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War'' by

David Halberstam David Halberstam (April 10, 1934 April 23, 2007) was an American writer, journalist, and historian, known for his work on the Vietnam War, politics, history, the Civil Rights Movement, business, media, American culture, Korean War, and late ...

** ''Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power'' by

Robert Dallek Robert A. Dallek (born May 16, 1934) is an American historian specializing in the presidents of the United States, including Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard Nixon. He retired as a history professor at Bost ...

* 2009: '' The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family'' by

Annette Gordon-Reed Annette Gordon-Reed (born November 19, 1958) is an American historian and law professor. She is currently the Carl M. Loeb University Professor at Harvard University and a professor of history in the university's Faculty of Arts & Sciences. She ...

** ''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 Faust Catharine Drew Gilpin Faust (born September 18, 1947) is an American historian and was the 28th president of Harvard University, the first woman to serve in that role. She was Harvard's first president since 1672 without an undergraduate or gradu ...

2010s

* 2010: '' Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World'' by

Liaquat Ahamed Liaquat Ahamed (born 14 November 1952 in Kenya) is an American author. Life and work Liaquat Ahamed was born in Kenya, where his grandfather had emigrated to from Gujarat by way of Zanzibar in the late 19th century.Gordon S. Wood ** ''Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City'' by

Greg Grandin Greg Grandin (born 1962) is a professor of history at Yale University. He previously taught 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 ...

* 2011: '' The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery'' by Eric Foner ** ''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 * 2012: '' Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention'' by

Manning Marable William Manning Marable (May 13, 1950 – April 1, 2011) was an American professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University.Grimes, William"Manning Marable, Historian and Social Critic, Dies at 60" ''The Ne ...

** ''Empires, Nations & Families: A History of the North American West, 1800-1860'' by Anne F. Hyde ** ''The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden'' by

Anthony Summers Anthony Bruce Summers (born 21 December 1942) is an Irish author. He is a Pulitzer Prize Finalist and has written ten non-fiction books. Career Summers is an Irish citizen who has been working with Robbyn Swan for more than thirty years befo ...

and

Robbyn Swan Robbyn Swan is an American journalist and author. Her book, ''The Eleventh Day: The Full Story of 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden'', co-authored by her husband Anthony Summers, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. Early life and education ...

** ''Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America'' by Richard White * 2013: '' Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America’s Vietnam'' by

Fredrik Logevall Fredrik Logevall is a Swedish-American historian and educator at Harvard University, where he is the Laurence D. Belfer Professor of International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and professor of history in the Harvard Facult ...

** ''The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675'' by

** ''Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History'' by John Fabian Witt * 2014: '' The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832'' by Alan Taylor ** ''A Dreadful Deceit: The Myth of Race from the Colonial Era to Obama's America'' by

** ''Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident and the Illusion of Safety'' by

Eric Schlosser Eric Matthew Schlosser (born August 17, 1959) is an American journalist and author known for his investigative journalism, such as in his books ''Fast Food Nation'' (2001), '' Reefer Madness'' (2003), and '' Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, ...

* 2015: '' Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People'' by Elizabeth A. Fenn ** ''Empire of Cotton: A Global History'' by Sven Beckert ** ''An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America'' by

Nick Bunker Nick Bunker (born November 25, 1958) is a British author, historian and a former journalist with the ''Financial Times'.'' Biography A Londoner by birth, Bunker attended Watford Boys Grammar School in Hertfordshire, England. Bunker attended Ki ...

* 2016: ''Custer's Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America'' by T. J. Stiles ** ''Marching Home: Union Veterans and Their Unending Civil War'' by Brian Matthew Jordan ** ''Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor'' by James M. Scott ** ''The Pentagon's Brain: An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency'' by Annie Jacobsen * 2017: '' Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy'' by

Heather Ann Thompson Heather Ann Thompson is an American historian, author, activist, professor, and speaker from Detroit, Michigan. Thompson won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for History, the 2016 Bancroft Prize, and other awards for her work '' Blood in the Water: The A ...

** ''Brothers at Arms: American Independence and the Men of France and Spain Who Saved It'' by

Larrie D. Ferreiro Larrie D. Ferreiro is a naval architect and historian. Early life He was born and raised on Long Island, New York, United States. His great-grandfather was an immigrant from Galicia, Spain. Career He completed his Ph.D at Imperial College Lo ...

** ''New England Bound: Slavery and Colonization in Early America'' by Wendy Warren * 2018: ''The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea'' by

Jack E. Davis Jack Emerson Davis is an author and professor of history in Florida. He holds the Rothman Family Endowed Chair in the Humanities and teaches environmental history and sustainability studies at the University of Florida. In 2002-2003, he taught o ...

** ''Fear City: New York’s Fiscal Crisis and the Rise of Austerity Politics'' by Kim Phillips-Fein ** ''Hitler in Los Angeles: How Jews Foiled Nazi Plots against Hollywood and America'' by Steven J. Ross * 2019: '' Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom'' by

David W. Blight David William Blight (born 1949) is the Sterling Professor of History, of African American Studies, and of American Studies and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. Previousl ...

** ''American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic'' by Victoria Johnson ** ''Civilizing Torture: An American Tradition'' by W. Fitzhugh Brundage

2020s

*2020: '' Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America'' by W. Caleb McDaniel **''Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership'' by

Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor __NOTOC__ Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an American academic, writer, and activist. She is a professor of African American Studies at Northwestern University. She is the author of ''From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation'' (2016). For this book, ...

**''The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America'' by

*2021: '' Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America'' by

Marcia Chatelain Marcia Chatelain (born 1979) is an American academic who serves as a professor of history and African American studies at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. In 2021, she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History for her book '' Franchise: ...

**''The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America'' by Eric Cervini **''The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West'' by Megan Kate Nelson *2022: Two winners: ''Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America'' by Nicole Eustace, and ''Cuba: An American History'' by Ada Ferrer **''Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction'' by

Kate Masur Kate Masur is an American historian and author. She is a professor of history at Northwestern University. Her book ''Until Justice Be Done'' was a 2022 Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the American Historical Association The American Histo ...

Repeat winners

Five people have won the Pulitzer Prize for History twice. *

, 1942 for ''Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865'' and 1960 for ''In the Days of McKinley'' *

, 1968 for ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' and 1987 for ''Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution'' * Paul Horgan, 1955 for ''Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History'' and 1976 for ''Lamy of Santa Fe'' * Alan Taylor, 1996 for ''William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic'' and 2014 for ''The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832'' * Don E. Fehrenbacher completed ''The Impending Crisis'' by David Potter, for which Potter posthumously won the 1977 prize, and won the 1979 prize himself for ''The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics''.

References

External links

* {{Pulitzer Prize for History

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

History awards Historiography Awards established in 1917 1917 establishments in New York City American history awards

Winners

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

Repeat winners

See also

References

External links