Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography
Encyclopedia
The Pulitzer Prize
for Biography or Autobiography has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Biography or Autobiography has been presented since 1917 for a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author.
1910s
- 19171917 in literatureThe year 1917 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January - Francis Picabia produces the first issue of the Dada periodical 391 in Barcelona....
: Julia Ward Howe by Laura E. RichardsLaura E. RichardsLaura Elizabeth Howe Richards was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a high-profile family. During her life, she wrote over 90 books, including children's, biographies, poetry, and others. A well-known children's poem for which she is noted is the literary nonsense verse Eletelephony.Her father...
and Maud Howe ElliottMaud Howe ElliottMaud Howe Elliott was an American writer, most notable for her Pulitzer prize-winning collaboration with her sister, Laura E. Richards, on their mother's biography The Life of Julia Ward Howe...
, assisted by Florence Howe Hall - 19181918 in literatureThe year 1918 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The 2nd annual Pulitzer Prizes are awarded.* Author Hall Caine made a KBE.*Robert Graves marries Nancy Nicholson...
: Benjamin Franklin, Self-RevealedBenjamin Franklin, Self-RevealedBenjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed is a biography of Benjamin Franklin written by William Cabell Bruce in 1917. A "biographical and critical study based mostly on [Benjamin Franklin's] own writings", the book won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1918....
by William Cabell BruceWilliam Cabell BruceWilliam Cabell Bruce was an American politician and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who represented the State of Maryland in the United States Senate from 1923 to 1929.... - 19191919 in literatureThe year 1919 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Winifred Holtby and Vera Brittain return to Somerville College, Oxford, to complete their education following war service.*Two paintings by E. E...
: The Education of Henry AdamsThe Education of Henry AdamsThe Education of Henry Adams records the struggle of Bostonian Henry Adams , in his later years, to come to terms with the dawning 20th century, so different from the world of his youth. It is also a sharp critique of 19th century educational theory and practice. In 1907, Adams began privately...
by Henry AdamsHenry AdamsHenry Brooks Adams was an American journalist, historian, academic and novelist. He is best known for his autobiographical book, The Education of Henry Adams. He was a member of the Adams political family.- Early life :He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Charles Francis Adams Sr...
1920s
- 19201920 in literatureThe year 1920 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Agatha Christie publishes her first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, introducing the long-running character detective, Hercule Poirot....
: The Life of John Marshall, 4 vols. by Albert J. BeveridgeAlbert J. BeveridgeAlbert Jeremiah Beveridge was an American historian and United States Senator from Indiana.-Early years:Albert J. Beveridge was born October 6, 1862 in Highland County, Ohio and his parents moved to Indiana soon after his birth, and his boyhood was one of hard work... - 19211921 in literatureThe year 1921 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Edgar Rice Burroughs – Tarzan the Terrible*James Branch Cabell – Figures of Earth*Hall Caine – The Master of Man*Willa Cather – Alexander's Bridge...
: The Americanization of Edward Bok by Edward Bok - 19221922 in literatureThe year 1922 in literature involved some significant events and new books.Under the current U.S. copyright law, all works published before January 1, 1923 with a proper copyright notice entered the public domain no later than 75 years from the date of the copyright...
: A Daughter of the Middle Border by Hamlin GarlandHamlin GarlandHannibal Hamlin Garland was an American novelist, poet, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his fiction involving hard-working Midwestern farmers.- Biography :... - 19231923 in literatureThe year 1923 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Fictional detective Lord Peter Wimsey makes his first appearance in print....
: The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page by Burton J. HendrickBurton J. HendrickBurton Jesse Hendrick born in New Haven, Connecticut. While attending Yale University, Hendrick was editor of both The Yale Courant and The Yale Literary Magazine. He received his BA in 1895 and his master's in 1897 from Yale. After completing his degree work, Hendrick became editor of the New... - 19241924 in literatureThe year 1924 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Ford Madox Ford publishes the first book of a four-volume work titled Parade's End published between 1924 and 1928.-New books:*Michael Arlen - The Green Hat...
: From Immigrant to Inventor by Michael I. Pupin - 19251925 in literatureThe year 1925 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* April: F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway meet in the Dingo Bar on rue Delambre, in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France shortly after the publication of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and shortly before...
: Barrett Wendell and His Letters by M. A. Dewolfe Howe - 19261926 in literatureThe year 1926 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is founded in Middlebury, Vermont....
: The Life of Sir William Osler, 2 vols. by Harvey Cushing - 19271927 in literatureThe year 1927 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Random House, book publishers, is founded in New York City by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer.-New books:*James Boyd - Marching On...
: Whitman by Emory HollowayEmory HollowayRufus Emory Holloway is an author most known for his books and studies of Walt Whitman. His Whitman: An Interpretation in Narrative was the first biography of a significant poet to win the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography-Web sources:... - 19281928 in literatureThe year 1928 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ford Madox Ford publishes Last Post. It is the final book of a four-volume work titled Parade's End published between 1924 and 1928....
: The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas by Charles Edward RussellCharles Edward RussellCharles Edward Russell was an American journalist, politician, and a co-founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People... - 19291929 in literatureThe year 1929 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Candide by Voltaire is declared obscene by the United States Customs and seized in 1930....
: The Training of an American: The Earlier Life and Letters of Walter H. Page by Burton J. HendrickBurton J. HendrickBurton Jesse Hendrick born in New Haven, Connecticut. While attending Yale University, Hendrick was editor of both The Yale Courant and The Yale Literary Magazine. He received his BA in 1895 and his master's in 1897 from Yale. After completing his degree work, Hendrick became editor of the New...
1930s
- 19301930 in literatureThe year 1930 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 6 - The first literary character licensing agreement is signed by A. A. Milne, granting Stephen Slesinger U.S...
: The Raven by Marquis JamesMarquis JamesMarquis James was an American journalist and author, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his works The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston and The Life of Andrew Jackson.... - 19311931 in literatureThe year 1931 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs' play Green Grow the Lilacs premiers. It would later be adapted by Rodgers and Hammerstein as Oklahoma!....
: Charles W. Eliot]] by Henry JamesHenry James (biographer)Henry James was an American author and recipient of the 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. He was the son of philosopher William James and the nephew of novelist Henry James.... - 19321932 in literatureThe year 1932 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. V. Knox replaces Sir Owen Seaman as editor of Punch magazine.*Samuel Beckett's first novel, Dream of Fair to Middling Women, is rejected by several publishers....
: Theodore Roosevelt by Henry F. PringleHenry F. PringleHenry Fowles Pringle was an American historian and journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his 1931 biography of Theodore Roosevelt.... - 19331933 in literatureThe year 1933 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 17 - The magazine Newsweek is published for the first time.* James Joyce's Ulysses is allowed into United States.-New books:...
: Grover Cleveland by Allan NevinsAllan NevinsAllan Nevins was an American historian and journalist, renowned for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as President Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller.-Life:Born in Camp Point, Illinois, Nevins was educated at... - 19341934 in literatureThe year 1934 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Flash Gordon comic strip is published.*Boris Pasternak and Korney Chukovsky are among those present at the first Congress of the Soviet Union of Writers....
: John Hay by Tyler DennettTyler DennettTyler Dennett was an American historian and educator. He is best known for his book John Hay , for which he won the 1934 Pulitzer Prize for biography.... - 19351935 in literatureThe year 1935 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* June 15 - W. H. Auden enters a marriage of convenience with Erika Mann.* July 30 - Allen Lane founds Penguin Books to publish the first mass market paperbacks in Britain....
: R. E. Lee by Douglas S. FreemanDouglas S. FreemanDouglas Southall Freeman was an American historian, biographer, newspaper editor, and author. He is best known for his multi-volume biographies of Robert E... - 19361936 in literatureThe year 1936 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Life magazine is first published.* The Carnegie Medal for excellence in children's literature is established in the UK.-New books:...
: The Thought and Character of William James by Ralph Barton PerryRalph Barton PerryRalph Barton Perry was an American philosopher.-Career:... - 19371937 in literatureThe year 1937 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 9 - The first issue of Look magazine goes on sale in the United States.*Thomas Quinn Curtiss meets Klaus Mann.-New books:*Eric Ambler - Uncommon Danger...
: Hamilton Fish by Allan NevinsAllan NevinsAllan Nevins was an American historian and journalist, renowned for his extensive work on the history of the Civil War and his biographies of such figures as President Grover Cleveland, Hamilton Fish, Henry Ford, and John D. Rockefeller.-Life:Born in Camp Point, Illinois, Nevins was educated at... - 19381938 in literatureThe year 1938 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The trilogy, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, is published containing his three novels The 42nd Parallel , 1919 , and The Big Money ....
: Pedlar's Progress by Odell ShepardOdell ShepardOdell Shepard was an American professor, poet, and politician who was the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut from 1941 to 1943.-Life:... - 19381938 in literatureThe year 1938 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The trilogy, U.S.A. by John Dos Passos, is published containing his three novels The 42nd Parallel , 1919 , and The Big Money ....
: Andrew Jackson, 2 vols. by Marquis JamesMarquis JamesMarquis James was an American journalist and author, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his works The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston and The Life of Andrew Jackson.... - 19391939 in literatureThe year 1939 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*December 25 - A Christmas Carol is read before a radio audience for the first time....
: Benjamin Franklin by Carl Van DorenCarl Clinton Van DorenCarl Clinton Van Doren was a U.S. critic and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. He was the brother of Mark Van Doren and the uncle of Charles Van Doren.-Life and career:...
1940s
- 19401940 in literatureThe year 1940 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Aldous Huxley is a screenwriter for the movie adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.*Jean-Paul Sartre is taken prisoner by the Germans....
: Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters. Vols. VII and VIII by Ray Stannard BakerRay Stannard BakerRay Stannard Baker , also known by his pen name David Grayson, was an American journalist and author born in Lansing, Michigan... - 19411941 in literatureThe year 1941 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Frank Herbert marries Flora Parkinson.*F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished work, The Last Tycoon, is edited and published by Edmund Wilson.-New books:...
: Jonathan Edwards, 1703-1758: a biography by Ola Elizabeth WinslowOla Elizabeth WinslowOla Elizabeth Winslow was a writer and historian. She wrote a number of biographies, one of which, Jonathan Edwards, 1703–1758; : A biography, gained a Pulitzer Prize in 1941.-Other books by or edited by Winslow:... - 19421942 in literatureThe year 1942 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*André Gide leaves France to live in Tunis.*Robertson Davies becomes editor of the Peterborough Examiner.*Thomas Mann emigrates to California....
: Crusader in Crinoline by Forrest Wilson - 19431943 in literatureThe year 1943 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*George Orwell resigns from the BBC to become literary editor of Tribune.*Isaac Bashevis Singer becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States....
: Admiral of the Ocean Sea by Samuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years... - 19441944 in literatureThe year 1944 in literature involved some significant new books.-New books:*Samuel Hopkins Adams – Canal Town*Jorge Amado – Terras do Sem Fim *Saul Bellow – Dangling Man*Jorge Luis Borges – Fictions...
: The American Leonardo: The Life of Samuel F B. Morse by Carleton Mabee - 19451945 in literatureThe year 1945 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 1 - The magazine Ebony is published for the first time.*Noel Coward's short play, Still Life, is adapted to become the film, Brief Encounter....
: George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel by Russel Blaine Nye - 19461946 in literatureThe year 1946 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 7 - Walker Percy marries Mary Bernice Townsend.*Launch in the United Kingdom of Penguin Classics under the editorship of E. V...
: Son of the Wilderness by Linnie Marsh Wolfe - 19471947 in literatureThe year 1947 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Diary of Anne Frank is published for the first time.*Jack Kerouac makes the journey which he will later chronicle in his book On the Road....
: The Autobiography of William Allen White by William Allen WhiteWilliam Allen WhiteWilliam Allen White was a renowned American newspaper editor, politician, author, and leader of the Progressive movement... - 19481948 in literatureThe year 1948 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The Pulitzer Prize for the Novel is renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction....
: Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow by Margaret ClappMargaret ClappMargaret Antoinette Clapp was an American scholar and educator of great acclaim.-Career:Clapp was born in East Orange, New Jersey and graduated from East Orange High School in 1926 and Wellesley College in 1930... - 19491949 in literatureThe year 1949 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Arthur C. Clarke becomes Assistant Editor of Science Abstracts.*Bertrand Russell receives the Order of Merit....
: Roosevelt and Hopkins by Robert E. SherwoodRobert E. SherwoodRobert Emmet Sherwood was an American playwright, editor, and screenwriter.-Biography:Born in New Rochelle, New York, he was a son of Arthur Murray Sherwood, a rich stockbroker, and his wife, the former Rosina Emmet, a well-known illustrator and portrait painter known as Rosina E. Sherwood...
1950s
- 19501950 in literatureThe year 1950 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Kazuo Shimada wins the "Mystery Writer Of Japan" award for his book Shakai-bu Kisha .*Jack Kerouac has his first novel published....
: John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy by Samuel Flagg BemisSamuel Flagg BemisSamuel Flagg Bemis was an American historian and biographer. For many years he taught at Yale University. He was also a former President of the American Historical Association and a specialist in American diplomatic history. He was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes.-Biography:Born in Worcester,... - 19511951 in literatureThe year 1951 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships.*Flannery O'Connor is diagnosed with lupus....
: John C. Calhoun: American Portrait by Margaret Louise CoitMargaret CoitMargaret Louise Coit was an American historian who wrote on Americanhistory for both adults and children.Coit was born in Norwich, Connecticut, to Archa Willoughby Coit, a stockbroker, and Grace Coit , the principal of a private day school. Two years later, Margaret's sister Grace was born with... - 19521952 in literatureThe year 1952, in literature involved some significant events and new literary publications.-Events:*J. L. Carr takes over as headmaster of Highfields Primary School, Kettering, which will eventually furnish the subject matter for his novel, The Harpole Report.*November 25 - Agatha Christie's play...
: Charles Evans Hughes by Merlo J. PuseyMerlo J. PuseyMerlo John Pusey was an American biographer and editorial writer who won the Bancroft Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for his 1951 biography of Charles Evans Hughes.... - 19531953 in literatureThe year 1953 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January 22 - The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway....
: Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803 by David J. Mays - 19541954 in literatureThe year 1954 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Jack Kerouac reads Dwight Goddard's A Buddhist Bible, which will influence him greatly.*John Updike graduates from Harvard with a thesis on George Herbert....
: The Spirit of St. LouisThe Spirit of St. Louis (book)The Spirit of St. Louis is an autobiographical account by Charles Lindbergh about the events leading up to and including his 1927 solo trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, a custom-built, single engine, single-seat monoplane...
by Charles A. LindberghCharles LindberghCharles Augustus Lindbergh was an American aviator, author, inventor, explorer, and social activist.Lindbergh, a 25-year-old U.S... - 19551955 in literatureThe year 1955 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*28 May - Philip Larkin makes a train journey from Hull to London which inspires his poem The Whitsun Weddings....
: The Taft Story by William S. White - 19561956 in literatureThe year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.*Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley....
: Benjamin Henry Latrobe by Talbot Faulkner Hamlin - 19571957 in literatureThe year 1957 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Lawrence Durrell publishes the first volume of The Alexandria Quartet. The final of the four volumes will be published in 1960....
: Profiles in CourageProfiles in CourageProfiles in Courage is a 1955 Pulitzer Prize-winning biography describing acts of bravery and integrity by eight United States Senators throughout the Senate's history. The book profiles senators who crossed party lines and/or defied the public opinion of their constituents to do what they felt was...
by John F. KennedyJohn F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963.... - 19581958 in literatureThe year 1958 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*August 18 - Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel Lolita is published in United States.*First volume of The Civil War by Shelby Foote is published....
: George Washington, Volumes I-VI by Douglas Southall Freeman, and Volume VII, written by John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth after Dr. Freeman's death in 1953 - 19591959 in literatureThe year 1959 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*April 30 - Theatrical première of Bertolt Brecht's Saint Joan of the Stockyards, originally performed on radio in 1932....
: Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet by Arthur WalworthArthur WalworthArthur Walworth is most noted as a biographer of Woodrow Wilson. He was born in Newton, Massachusetts. He won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for Woodrow Wilson, Volume I: American Prophet....
1960s
- 19601960 in literatureThe year 1960 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 2 – Penguin Books is found not guilty of obscenity in the Lady Chatterley's Lover case in the United Kingdom....
: John Paul Jones by Samuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot MorisonSamuel Eliot Morison, Rear Admiral, United States Naval Reserve was an American historian noted for his works of maritime history that were both authoritative and highly readable. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1912, and taught history at the university for 40 years... - 19611961 in literatureThe year 1961 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First English production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui*Michael Halliday publishes his seminal paper on the systemic functional grammar model....
: Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War by David DonaldDavid Herbert Donald- Career :Majoring in history and sociology, Donald earned his bachelor degree from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He earned his PhD in 1946 under the eminent, leading Lincoln scholar, James G. Randall at the University of Illinois... - 19621962 in literatureThe year 1962 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 7 - In an article in the New York Times Book Review, Gore Vidal calls Evelyn Waugh "our time's first satirist."...
: no award given - 19631963 in literatureThe year 1963 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First United States printing of John Cleland's 1749 novel, Fanny Hill . The book is banned for obscenity, triggering a court case by its publisher.*Leslie Charteris publishes his final collection of stories...
: Henry James by Leon EdelLeon EdelJoseph Leon Edel was a North American literary critic and biographer. He was the elder brother of North American philosopher Abraham Edel.... - 19641964 in literatureThe year 1964 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Jean-Paul Sartre becomes head of the Organization to Defend Iranian Political Prisoners....
: John Keats by Walter Jackson BateWalter Jackson BateWalter Jackson Bate was an American literary critic and biographer. He was born in Mankato, Minnesota.He is known for two Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies, of John Keats and Samuel Johnson... - 19651965 in literatureThe year 1965 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Lloyd Alexander - The Black Cauldron*J. G. Ballard - The Drought*Ray Bradbury - The Vintage Bradbury*John Brunner...
: Henry Adams, 3 vols., by Ernest SamuelsErnest SamuelsErnest Samuels was an American biographer and lawyer.Born in Chicago, he received his J.D. in 1926, but switched to literature in 1930. Nevertheless he did legal work as well for much of the 1930s. He might be best known for his biography of Henry Adams in three volumes... - 19661966 in literatureThe year 1966 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 14 - Dissident writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky are sentenced to hard labour for "anti-Soviet activity"....
: A Thousand DaysA Thousand Days (book)A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House is a 1965 book written by Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. about the politics and personalities in the cabinet of President John F. Kennedy. In 1966 it won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography and the National Book Award for History and...
by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. - 19671967 in literatureThe year 1967 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Influential science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions published.*Cecil Day-Lewis is selected as the new Poet Laureate of the UK.-New books:...
: Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain by Justin KaplanJustin KaplanJustin Kaplan is an American writer and editor.Kaplan received his bachelor of science degree from Harvard University in 1945... - 19681968 in literatureThe year 1968 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest is published....
: Memoirs by George Frost KennanGeorge F. KennanGeorge Frost Kennan was an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War... - 19691969 in literatureThe year 1969 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The first Booker Prize is awarded.* "Penelope Ashe", author of the bestselling novel Naked Came the Stranger, is found to be several people who each took a turn writing a chapter of what they described as "junk" in...
: The Man From New York: John Quinn and His Friends by Benjamin Lawrence Reid
1970s
- 19701970 in literatureThe year 1970 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Deliverance by American poet James Dickey published...
: Huey Long by Thomas Harry WilliamsT. Harry WilliamsThomas Harry Williams was an award-winning historian at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge whose career began in 1941 and extended for thirty-eight years until his death at the age of seventy... - 19711971 in literatureThe year 1971 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Destiny Waltz by Gerda Charles wins the UK's first Whitbread Novel of the Year Award.-New books:*Hiroshi Aramata - Teito Monogatari...
: Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915–1938 by Lawrence Thompson - 19721972 in literatureThe year 1972 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Fiction:*Richard Adams - Watership Down*Jorge Amado - Teresa Batista Cansada da Guerra *Martin Amis - The Rachel Papers...
: Eleanor and Franklin by Joseph P. LashJoseph P. LashJoseph P. Lash was an American radical political activist, journalist, and author. A close friend of Eleanor Roosevelt, Lash won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the National Book Award in 1972 for Eleanor and Franklin, the first of two volumes he wrote about the former First Lady.-Early... - 19731973 in literatureThe year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
: Luce and His Empire by W. A. Swanberg - 19741974 in literatureThe year 1974 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.-New books:*Richard Adams - Shardik*Kingsley Amis - Ending Up...
: O'Neill, Son and Artist by Louis Sheaffer - 19751975 in literatureThe year 1975 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* August 12 — with the 20-year time limit stipulated by Thomas Mann at his death having expired, sealed packets containing 32 of the author's notebooks were opened in Zurich, Switzerland.* Writing under the...
: The Power BrokerThe Power BrokerThe Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York is a Pulitzer Prize-winning 1974 biography of Robert Moses, "New York City's Master Builder", by Robert Caro...
: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert CaroRobert CaroRobert Allan Caro is an American journalist and author known for his celebrated biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson... - 19761976 in literatureThe year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
: Edith Wharton: A Biography by R. W. B. LewisR. W. B. LewisRichard Warrington Baldwin Lewis was an American literary scholar and critic. He gained a wider reputation when he won a 1976 Pulitzer Prize for biography, the first National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction, and a Bancroft Prize for his biography of Edith Wharton... - 19771977 in literatureThe year 1977 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Adams begins writing for BBC radio.*V. S. Naipaul declines the offer of a CBE....
: A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T E. Lawrence by John E. MackJohn Edward MackJohn Edward Mack, M.D. was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor at Harvard Medical School... - 19781978 in literatureThe year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude...
: Samuel Johnson by Walter Jackson BateWalter Jackson BateWalter Jackson Bate was an American literary critic and biographer. He was born in Mankato, Minnesota.He is known for two Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies, of John Keats and Samuel Johnson... - 19791979 in literatureThe year 1979 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*V.C...
: Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews by Leonard BakerLeonard BakerLeonard S. Baker was an American Pulitzer Prize winning writer.He won the 1979 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews , a book about Leo Baeck.His other published works include The Johnson Eclipse: A President's Vice...
1980s
- 19801980 in literatureThe year 1980 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Marguerite Yourcenar becomes the first woman to be elected to the Académie française....
: The Rise of Theodore RooseveltThe Rise of Theodore RooseveltThe Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is a Pulitzer Prize winning biography of President Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. It is the first in a trilogy, with the second volume Theodore Rex published in 2001 and the third volume Colonel Roosevelt in late 2010.The Rise covers the time period from...
by Edmund Morris - 19811981 in literatureThe year 1981 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction given for the first time...
: Peter the Great: His Life and WorldPeter the Great: His Life and WorldPeter the Great: His Life and World is a 1981 work written by Robert K. Massie. The book won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography. The book chronicles the life of Peter I of Russia, and is divided into five parts: "Old Muscovy", "The Great Embassy", "The Great Northern War", "On...
by Robert K. MassieRobert K. MassieRobert Kinloch Massie III is an American historian, author, Pulitzer Prize recipient. He has devoted much of his career to studying the House of Romanov, Russia's royal family from 1613-1917.-Biography:... - 19821982 in literatureThe year 1982 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*La Bicyclette Bleue by Régine Deforges becomes France's best selling novel ever.-New books:...
: Grant: A Biography by William S. McFeelyWilliam S. McFeelyWilliam S. McFeely was a professor of history before his retirement in 1997.He received his B.A. from Amherst College in 1952, and Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University in 1966. He studied there with, among others, C. Vann Woodward, whose book "The Strange Career of Jim Crow" was a staple... - 19831983 in literatureThe year 1983 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ironweed by William Kennedy is published.*Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published. This is the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris...
: Growing Up by Russell BakerRussell BakerRussell Wayne Baker is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning writer known for his satirical commentary and self-critical prose, as well as for his autobiography, Growing Up.-His career:... - 19841984 in literatureThe year 1984 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The book Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is widely read....
: Booker T. Washington: The Wizard of Tuskegee, 1901–1915 by Louis R. HarlanLouis R. HarlanLouis Rudolph Harlan was an American historian and academic whose two-volume biography of African-American educator and social leader Booker T... - 19851985 in literatureThe year 1985 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Isaac Asimov - Robots and Empire*Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale*Jean M. Auel - The Mammoth Hunters*Iain Banks - Walking on Glass...
: The Life and Times of Cotton Mather by Kenneth SilvermanKenneth SilvermanKenneth Silverman is a professor emeritus at New York University and a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer. Silverman was born in Manhattan in 1936.-Books:* The Life and Times of Cotton Mather New York : Harper & Row, 1984... - 19861986 in literatureThe year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
: Louise Bogan: A Portrait by Elizabeth FrankElizabeth FrankElizabeth Frank is a Pulitzer Prize winning author and the Joseph E. Harry Professor of Modern Languages and Literature at Bard College.She won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1986 for Louise Bogan: A Portrait... - 19871987 in literatureThe year 1987 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Wolfe was paid $5 million for the film rights to his novel, The Bonfire of the Vanities, the most ever earned by an author, at the time.-Fiction:...
: Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David J. GarrowDavid GarrowDavid J. Garrow is an American historian and author of the book Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. He is also the author of Liberty and Sexuality, a history of the legal struggles over... - 19881988 in literatureThe year 1988 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Margaret Atwood - Cat's Eye*J.G. Ballard - Memories of the Space Age*Iain M...
: Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe by David Herbert DonaldDavid Herbert Donald- Career :Majoring in history and sociology, Donald earned his bachelor degree from Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He earned his PhD in 1946 under the eminent, leading Lincoln scholar, James G. Randall at the University of Illinois... - 19891989 in literatureThe year 1989 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 24 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini places a US$3 million bounty for the death of The Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie.-Literature:...
: Oscar Wilde by Richard EllmannRichard EllmannRichard David Ellmann was a prominent American literary critic and biographer of the Irish writers James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, and William Butler Yeats...
1990s
- 19901990 in literatureThe year 1990 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*J. K. Rowling gets the idea for Harry Potter while on a train ride from Manchester to London. She says "I was staring out the window, and the idea for Harry just came. He appeared in my mind's eye, very fully formed...
: Machiavelli in Hell by Sebastian de GraziaSebastian de GraziaSebastian de Grazia was a Pulitzer prize winning author. Born in Chicago, de Grazia received his bachelor's degree and a doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago. During World War II, he served in the Office of Strategic Services, predecessor to the Central Intelligence... - 19911991 in literatureThe year 1991 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Coupland publishes the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularizing the term Generation X as the name of the generation....
: Jackson Pollock: An American SagaJackson Pollock: An American SagaJackson Pollock: An American Saga is a 1989 biography of expressionist painter Jackson Pollock by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. It was considered "well-researched" by Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, and inspired Ed Harris to adapt it to film as Pollock in 2000. It was awarded the...
by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith - 19921992 in literatureThe year 1992 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Ben Aaronovitch - Transit*Julia Álvarez - How the García Girls Lost Their Accents*Paul Auster - Leviathan*Iain Banks - The Crow Road...
: Fortunate Son: The Autobiography of Lewis B. Puller Jr. by Lewis B. PullerLewis Burwell Puller, Jr.Lewis Burwell Puller, Jr. was an attorney, Pulitzer prize winning author and officer in the United States Marine Corps. He was severely wounded in the Vietnam War.-Life and career:... - 19931993 in literatureThe year 1993 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Professor Stephen Hawking's book, A Brief History of Time, becomes the longest running book on the bestseller list of The Sunday Times....
: TrumanTruman (book)Truman is a 1992 biography of the 33rd President of the United States Harry S. Truman written by popular historian David McCullough. The book won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for "Biography or Autobiography." The book was later made into a movie with the same name by HBO.-Plot summary:The book...
by David McCulloughDavid McCulloughDavid Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award.... - 19941994 in literatureThe year 1994 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Kevin J. Anderson - Champions of the Force, Dark Apprentice and Jedi Search*Reed Arvin - The Wind in the Wheat*Greg Bear - Songs of Earth and Power...
: W.E.B. Du Bois : Biography of a Race, 1868–1919 by David Levering LewisDavid Levering LewisDavid Levering Lewis is the Julius Silver University Professor and Professor of History at New York University. He is twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, for part one and part two of his biography of W. E. B. Du Bois... - 19951995 in literatureThe year 1995 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea is opened by Jimmy Carter....
: Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life by Joan D. Hedrick - 19961996 in literatureThe year 1996 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Harper Lee's novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is removed from an advanced placement English reading list in Lindale, Texas because it "conflicted with the values of the community."* In the United Kingdom, the first...
: God: A BiographyGod: A BiographyGod: A Biography is a nonfiction book by Jack Miles. The book recounts the tale of existence of the Judeo-Christian deity as the protagonist of the Hebrew Tanak or Christian Bible Old Testament. The Tanak and the Old Testament contain the same books, however, the order of the books is different...
by Jack MilesJack MilesJack Miles is an American author and winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and the MacArthur Fellowship. His work on religion, politics, and culture has appeared in numerous national publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and The Los... - 19971997 in literatureThe year 1997 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tom Clancy signs a book deal with Pearson Custom Publishing and Penguin Putnam Inc. , giving him US$50 million for the world-English rights to two new books . A second agreement gives him another US$25 million for a...
: Angela's Ashes: A Memoir by Frank McCourt - 19981998 in literatureThe year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
: Personal HistoryPersonal HistoryPersonal History is the autobiography of Katharine Graham. It was published in 1997 and won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1998...
by Katharine GrahamKatharine GrahamKatharine Meyer Graham was an American publisher. She led her family's newspaper, The Washington Post, for more than two decades, overseeing its most famous period, the Watergate coverage that eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon... - 19991999 in literatureThe year 1999 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*June 19 - Stephen King is hit by a Dodge van while taking a walk. He spends the next three weeks hospitalized...
: Lindbergh by A. Scott BergA. Scott BergAndrew Scott Berg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American biographer. After graduating from Princeton University in 1971, Berg expanded his senior thesis, about editor Maxwell Perkins, into a full-length biography. Maxwell Perkins: Editor of Genius won a National Book Award, and his second book,...
2000s
- 20002000 in literatureThe year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...
: Vera, Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov by Stacy SchiffStacy SchiffStacy Madeleine Schiff is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American nonfiction author and guest columnist for The New York Times.-Biography:... - 20012001 in literatureThe year 2001 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The film version of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic book, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, is released to movie theaters...
: W.E.B. Du Bois: The Fight for Equality and The American Century, 1919–1963 by David Levering LewisDavid Levering LewisDavid Levering Lewis is the Julius Silver University Professor and Professor of History at New York University. He is twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography, for part one and part two of his biography of W. E. B. Du Bois... - 20022002 in literatureThe year 2002 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 16: Authorities in Saudi Arabia arrested and jailed poet Abdul Mohsen Musalam and fired a newspaper editor following the publication of Musalam's poem The Corrupt on Earth that criticized the state's Islamic...
: John AdamsJohn Adams (book)John Adams is a 2001 biography of Founding Father and second U.S. President John Adams written by popular historian David McCullough. It won a 2002 Pulitzer Prize and has been made into a TV miniseries with the same name by HBO Films. Since the TV miniseries debuted, an alternative cover has been...
by David McCulloughDavid McCulloughDavid Gaub McCullough is an American author, narrator, historian, and lecturer. He is a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award.... - 20032003 in literatureThe year 2003 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Peter Ackroyd - The Clerkenwell Tales*Atsuko Asano - No...
: Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert CaroRobert CaroRobert Allan Caro is an American journalist and author known for his celebrated biographies of United States political figures Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson... - 20042004 in literatureThe year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
: Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (ISBN 0-393-05144-7) by William TaubmanWilliam TaubmanWilliam Chase Taubman is an American political scientist. His biography of Nikita Khrushchev won the Pulitzer Prize for biography in 2004 and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Biography in 2003.... - 20052005 in literatureThe year 2005 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 25 - Canada Reads selects Rockbound by Frank Parker Day as the novel to be read across the nation....
: de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan - 20062006 in literatureThe year 2006 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Literature:*Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - Half of a Yellow Sun*Chris Adrian - The Children's Hospital *Martin Amis - House of Meetings...
: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai BirdKai BirdKai Bird is an American Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist, best known for his biographies of political figures.-Personal life:Bird was born in 1951 in Eugene, Oregon. His father was a U.S. Foreign Service officer, and he spent his childhood in Jerusalem, Beirut, Dhahran, Cairo and Bombay...
and Martin J. SherwinMartin J. SherwinMartin J. Sherwin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American historian. His scholarship mostly concerns the history of the development of atomic energy and nuclear proliferation.... - 20072007 in literatureThe year 2007 in literature involves some significant new books.-Events:*November 19 - First Kindle e-book reader released.*December 11 - Terry Pratchett informs fans on-line that he has been diagnosed with a rare form of Alzheimer's disease.-Literature:...
: The Most Famous Man in AmericaThe Most Famous Man in AmericaThe Most Famous Man in America is a biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate. Applegate received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for this book.-External links:* *...
by Debby ApplegateDebby ApplegateDebby Applegate is an American historian and biographer. She is the author of The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, for which she won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.-Biography:... - 20082008 in literatureThe year 2008 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*January 1 - In the 2008 New Year Honours, Hanif Kureishi , Jenny Uglow , Peter Vansittart and Debjani Chatterjee are all rewarded for "services to literature".*June 15 - Gore Vidal, asked in a New York Times...
: Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her FatherEden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her FatherEden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father is a 2007 biography by John Matteson of Louisa May Alcott, best known as the author of Little Women, and her father, Bronson Alcott, an American Transcendentalist philosopher and the founder of the Fruitlands utopian community...
by John MattesonJohn MattesonJohn Matteson is a full professor of English and legal writing at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. He won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for his first book, Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father.Matteson is the son of Thomas D... - 20092009 in literatureThe year 2009 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*8 October - Romanian-born German novelist Herta Müller wins the 2009 Nobel Prize in Literature....
: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon MeachamJon MeachamJon Meacham is executive editor and executive vice president at Random House. A former editor of Newsweek and a Pulitzer Prize winning bestselling author and a commentator on politics, history, and religious faith in America, he is a contributing editor to Time magazine and editor-at-large of WNET...
2010s
- 20102010 in literatureThe year 2010 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February - The Wheeler Centre, Australia's "literary hub", officially opened.*April 3 - First release of the Apple iPad, electronic book reading device....
: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. StilesT.J. StilesT. J. Stiles is a biographer who lives in San Francisco, California. His most recent book, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt T. J. Stiles is a biographer who lives in San Francisco, California. His most recent book, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt T.... - 20112011 in literatureThe year 2011 will involve some significant events and new books.-Events:*Tomas Tranströmer wins the 2011 Nobel Prize in Literature.*Jennifer Egan wins the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel A Visit From the Goon Squad.-Literature:*T.C...
: Washington: A Life by Ron ChernowRon ChernowRonald Chernow is an American biographer. He is the author of Washington: A Life, Alexander Hamilton, The House of Morgan, and Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., among other works...