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Pulitzer Histories

Each year, Pulitzers are awarded to authors of exceptional books about American history, and to American authors of nonfiction and biography books. This collection compiles articles by and interviews with recent winners, as well as excerpts and reviews of their books.
created by Bunk Editor on May 18, 2022
Painting of ships in Boston Harbor.

Pressured to Leave

Black refugees’ journey from Virginia to Boston after the Civil War.
by Jacqueline Jones via Lapham’s Quarterly on January 11, 2023
 
Excerpt of "No Right to an Honest Living: The Struggles of Boston’s Black Workers in the Civil War Era" by Jacqueline Jones, winner of the 2024 Pulitzer in History.
A herd of bison.

A Panoramic View of the West

A sweeping new history examines many untold stories of the American West in the late nineteenth century.
by Bradley J. Birzer via Law & Liberty on December 13, 2023
 
Review of "Continental Reckoning: The American West in the Age of Expansion," by Elliott West, finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer in History.
Martin Luther King Jr. with other activists and children.

Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Perilous Power of Respectability

We revere the man and revile the strategy, but King knew what he was doing.
by Kelefa Sanneh via The New Yorker on May 8, 2023
 
Review of "King: The Life of Martin Luther King," by Jonathan Eig, winner of the 2024 Pulitzer in Biography.
Jonathan Big next to cover of "King: A Life."

Restoring the Real, Radical Martin Luther King Jr. in “King: A Life”

A new biography of King emerges at a "critical juncture" for his legacy.
by Jonathan Eig, Steve Nathans-Kelly via Chicago Review Of Books on May 23, 2023
 
Interview with Jonathan Eig, winner of the 2024 Pulitzer in Biography.
William and Ellen Craft

‘Master Slave Husband Wife’ Review: To Freedom Together

For Ellen and William Craft, a flight from bondage required a daring masquerade, with exposure a constant risk.
by Priscilla M. Jensen via The Wall Street Journal on March 5, 2023
 
Review of "Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom," by Ilyon Woo, winner of the 2024 Pulitzer in Biography.
Portraits of white men.

How 155 Angry White Men Chained Alabama to Its Confederate Past

Their plan required not only a social and legal division along racial lines but a political one, too — a separation that persists today.
by Kyle Whitmire via al.com on December 5, 2022
 
An installment from "State of Denial," a series by Kyle Whitmire, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer in Commentary.
Image of an AR-15

The Gun that Divides a Nation

The AR-15 thrives in times of tension and tragedy. This is how it came to dominate the marketplace – and loom so large in the American psyche.
by Alex Horton, Josh Dawsey, Todd C. Frankel, Shawn Boburg, Ashley Park via Washington Post on March 27, 2023
 
An installment from "American Icon," an investigative series about the AR-15 that won the 2024 Pulitzer for National Reporting.
Cillian Murphy in the movie "Oppenheimer."

‘Oppenheimer’ Doesn’t Show us Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That's an Act of Rigor, Not Erasure

The movie has no interest in reducing the atomic bombings to a trivializing, exploitative spectacle, despite what some would want.
by Justin Chang via Los Angeles Times on August 11, 2023
 
A review of "Oppenheimer" by film critic Justin Chang, winner of the 2024 Pulitzer in Criticism.
George Wallace pointing to map of United States with "Wallace Country" written on it.

How the Right Turned “Freedom” Into a Dog Whistle

A new book traces the long history of cloaking racism in the language of resistance to an overbearing federal government.
by Eric Herschthal via The New Republic on December 8, 2022
 
A review of "Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power," by Jefferson Cowie, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer in History.
African American prisoners in Alabama post-Reconstruction.

How the Slavery-Like Conditions of Convict Leasing Flourished After the Collapse of Reconstruction

On the terror that filled the void left by the retreat of federal authority in the South.
by Jefferson Cowie via Literary Hub on November 23, 2022
 
An excerpt of "Freedom’s Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power," by Jefferson Cowie, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer in History.
Richard Nixon, Pat Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Betty Ford walking away from White House

Regime Change, American Style

A new book about Watergate is the first to stress how much we still do not know many of the basic facts about the burglary at its center.
by Christopher Caldwell via First Things on May 20, 2022
 
A review of "Watergate: A New History," finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer in History.
KKK march overlaid on J. Edgar Hoover

How Hoover Took Down the Klan

The FBI’s successful campaign against white supremacists is also a cautionary tale.
by Beverly Gage via The Atlantic on November 20, 2022
 
An excerpt of "G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century," by Beverly Gage, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer in Biography.
J. Edgar Hoover collage.

J. Edgar Hoover’s Long Shadow

The FBI’s first director built the agency around some of his own worst instincts.
by Michael Kazin via The New Republic on December 9, 2022
 
A review of "G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century," by Beverly Gage, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer in Biography.
J. Edgar Hoover (center) with President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, February 23, 1961.

J. Edgar Hoover Tried to Destroy the Left — and Liberals Enabled Him

The author of a new biography explains how liberals played an important role in enabling Hoover’s antidemocratic crusade.
by Beverly Gage, Michael Brenes via Jacobin on November 28, 2022
 
An interview with Beverly Gage, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer in Biography.
A collage of dance performances.

Dance, Revolution

George Balanchine and Martha Graham trade places.
by Juliana Devaan via The Drift on March 12, 2024
 
A review of "Mr. B: George Balanchine’s 20th Century," by Jennifer Homans, finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer in Biography.
A late 17th-century comb, depicting two animated figures - likely a Native American and a European - facing one another.

A 1722 Murder Spurred Native Americans' Pleas for Justice in Early America

In a new book, historian Nicole Eustace reveals Indigenous calls for meaningful restitution and reconciliation rather than retribution.
by Karin Wulf, Nicole Eustace via Smithsonian on April 28, 2021
 
Interview with Nicole Eustace, winner of 2022 Pulitzer in History for "Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America."
Collage of a photograph of a boy over a photo of Castro and his entourage.

My Brother’s Keeper

Early in the Cuban Revolution, my mother made a consequential decision.
by Ada Ferrer via The New Yorker on February 18, 2021
 
Personal narrative by Ada Ferrer, winner of 2022 Pulitzer in History for for "Cuba: An American History."
Painted photo of Northwest Territory

A Confusion of Language

On the legal foundations that spurred centuries of civil rights movements.
by Kate Masur via Lapham’s Quarterly on March 24, 2021
 
Excerpt of "Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction" by Kate Masur, finalist for 2022 Pulitzer in History.
Woman holding a poster that says "ABORTION". AP Images

The Roe Baby

After decades of keeping her identity a secret, Jane Roe’s child has chosen to talk about her life.
by Joshua Prager via The Atlantic on September 9, 2021
 
Excerpt of "The Family Roe: An American Story" by Joshua Prager, finalist for 2022 Pulitzer in General Nonfiction.
A hand holding a stethoscope and knife.

The Blackwell Sisters and the Harrowing History of Modern Medicine

A new biography of the pioneering doctors shows why “first” can be a tricky designation.
by Casey N. Cep via The New Yorker on January 25, 2021
 
Review of "The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine" by Janice P. Nimura, finalist for 2022 Pulitzer in Biography.

American Torture

For 400 years, Americans have argued that their violence is justified while the violence of others constitutes barbarism.
by W. Fitzhugh Brundage via Aeon on February 20, 2020
 
Article by W. Fitzhugh Brundage, finalist for 2019 Pulitzer in History for "Civilizing Torture: An American Tradition."
Four African-Americans in front of a McDonalds restaurant

The Intertwined History of McDonald’s and Black America

In good ways and bad, the Golden Arches have always loomed large in the African American experience.
by Marcia Chatelain via Gen on January 6, 2020
 
Excerpt of "Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America" by Marcia Chatelain, winner of 2021 Pulitzer in History.

Americans Need to Know the Hard Truth About Union Monuments in the West

During the Civil War, Union soldiers in the West weren’t fighting to end slavery, but to annihilate and remove Native Americans.
by Megan Kate Nelson via The Atlantic on July 10, 2020
 
Article by Megan Kate Nelson, finalist for 2021 Pulitzer in History for "The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West."

By Bullet or Ballot: One of the Only Successful Coups in American History

David Zucchino on the white supremacist plot to take over Wilmington, North Carolina.
by David Zucchino via Literary Hub on January 9, 2020
 
Excerpt of "Wilmington’s Lie: The Murderous Coup of 1898 and the Rise of White Supremacy" by David Zucchino, winner of 2021 Pulitzer in General Nonfiction.
Malcolm X

The Day Malcolm X Was Killed

At the height of his powers, the Black Nationalist leader was assassinated, and the government botched the investigation of his murder.
by Les Payne via The New Yorker on August 27, 2020
 
Article by Les Payne, winner of 2021 Pulitzer in Biography for "The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X."

In 1870, Henrietta Wood Sued for Reparations—and Won

The $2,500 verdict, the largest ever of its kind, offers evidence of the generational impact such awards can have
by W. Caleb McDaniel via Smithsonian on September 2, 2019
 
Article by Caleb McDaniel, winner of 2020 Pulitzer in History for "Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America."
Painting of cavalry with swords drawn heading into U.S.-Mexico War battle.

American Extremism Has Always Flowed from the Border

Donald Trump says there is “a crisis of the soul” at the border. He is right, though not in the way he thinks.
by Greg Grandin via Boston Review on January 9, 2019
 
Article by Greg Grandin, winner of 2020 Pulitzer in General Nonfiction for "The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America."
Photo of Richard Holsbrook on an abstract paint background.

Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century

After serving in Vietnam, Richard Holbrooke became a proponent of soft power. He would then contribute greatly to American foreign policy.
by Samuel Moyn via London Review of Books on January 27, 2020
 
Review of "Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century" by George Packer, finalist for 2020 Pulitzer in Biography.
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