The Pulitzer Prizes were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer (1847–1911), publisher of the New York World, for outstanding achievements in American journalism, letters, music (beginning in 1943), and drama. The prizes are bestowed by an advisory board that has exercised its broad powers to create new award categories and to withhold any award where entries fall below its standards of excellence. Winners in each major category are listed below by year
1917
Editorial Writing: No author named, New York Tribune
Novel: [no award]
Drama: [no award]
History: J. J. Jusserand, With Americans of Past and Present Days
Biography or Autobiography: Laura E. Richards and Maude Howe Elliott (asst. by Florence Howe Hall), Julia Ward Howe
Poetry: [no award]
1918
Editorial Writing: No author named, Louisville Courier Journal
1918
Novel: Ernest Poole, His Family
Drama: Jesse Lynch Williams, Why Marry?
History: James Ford Rhodes, A History of the Civil War, 1861-1865
Biography or Autobiography: William Cabell Bruce, Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed
Poetry: [no award]
1919
Editorial Writing: [no award]
Novel: Booth Tarkington, The Magnificent Ambersons
Drama: [no award]
History: [no award]
Biography or Autobiography: Henry Adams, The Education of Henry
Adams Poetry: [no award]
1920
Editorial Writing: Harvey E. Newbranch, Evening World Herald, Omaha, Nebraska
Novel: [no award]
Drama: Eugene O’Neill, Beyond the Horizon
History: Justin H. Smith, The War with Mexico
Biography or Autobiography: Albert J. Beveridge, The Life of John Marshall
Poetry: [no award]
1921
Editorial Writing: [no award]
Novel: Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
Drama: Zona Gale, Miss Lulu Bett
History: William Sowden Sims and Burton J. Hendrick, The Victory at Sea
Biography or Autobiography: Edward Bok, The Americanization of Edward Bok
Poetry: [no award]
1922
Editorial Writing: Frank M. O’Brien, New York Herald
Novel: Booth Tarkington, Alice Adams
Drama: Eugene O’Neill, Anna Christie
History: James Truslow Adams, The Founding of New England
Biography or Autobiography: Hamlin Garland, A Daughter of the Middle Border
Poetry: Edwin Arlington Robinson, Collected Poems
1923
Editorial Writing: William Allen White, Emporia (Kansas) Gazette
Novel: Willa Cather, One of Ours
Drama: Owen Davis, Icebound
History: Charles Warren, The Supreme Court in United States History
Biography or Autobiography: Burton J. Hendrick, The Life and Letters of Walter H. Page
Poetry: Edna St. Vincent Millay, The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver: A Few Figs from Thistles: Eight Sonnets in American Poetry
1924
Editorial Writing: No author named, Boston Herald
Novel: Margaret Wilson, The Able McLaughlins
Drama: Hatcher Hughes, Hell-Bent fer Heaven
History: Charles Howard McIlwain, The American Revolution—A Constitutional Interpretation
Biography or Autobiography: Michael Idvorsky Pupin, From Immigrant to Inventor
Poetry: Robert Frost, New Hampshire: A Poem with Notes and Grace Notes
1925
Editorial Writing: No author named, Charleston (South Carolina) News and Courier
Novel: Edna Ferber, So Big
Drama: Sidney Howard, They Knew What They Wanted
History: Frederic L. Paxson, History of the American Frontier
Biography or Autobiography: M. A. Dewolfe Howe, Barrett Wendell and His Letters
Poetry: Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Man Who Died Twice
1926
Editorial Writing: Edward M. Kingsbury, New York Times
Novel: Sinclair Lewis, Arrowsmith
Drama: George Kelly, Craig’s Wife
History: Edward Channing, A History of the United States
Biography or Autobiography: Harvey Cushing, The Life of Sir William Osler
Poetry: Amy Lowell, What’s O’Clock
1927
Editorial Writing: F. Lauriston Bullard, Boston Herald
Novel: Louis Bromfield, Early Autumn
Drama: Paul Green, In Abraham’s Bosom
History: Samuel Flagg Bemis, Pinckney’s Treaty
Biography or Autobiography: Emory Holloway, Whitman
Poetry: Leonora Speyer, Fiddler’s Farewell
1928
Editorial Writing: Grover Cleveland Hall, Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser
Novel: Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Drama: Eugene O’Neill, Strange Interlude
History: Vernon Louis Parrington, Main Currents in American Thought
Biography or Autobiography: Charles Edward Russell, The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas
Poetry: Arlington Robinson, Tristram
1929
Editorial Writing: Louis Isaac Jaffe, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
Novel: Julia Peterkin, Scarlet Sister Mary
Drama: Elmer L. Rice, Street Scene
History: Fred Albert Shannon, The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861-1865
Biography or Autobiography: Burton J. Hendrick, The Training of an American. The Earlier Life of Walter H. Page
Poetry: Stephen Vincent Benét, John Brown’s Body
1930
Editorial Writing: [no award]
Novel: Oliver Lafarge, Laughing Boy
Drama: Marc Connelly, The Green Pastures
History: Claude H. Van Tyne, The War of Independence
Biography or Autobiography: Marquis James, The Raven
Poetry: Conrad Aiken, Selected Poems
1931
Editorial Writing: Charles S. Ryckman, Fremont (Nebraska) Tribune
Novel: Margaret Ayer Barnes, Years of Grace
Drama: Susan Glaspell, Alison’s House
History: Bernadotte E. Schmitt, The Coming of the War: 1914
Biography or Autobiography: Henry James, Charles W. Eliot
Poetry: Robert Frost, Collected Poems
1932
Editorial Writing: [no award]
Novel: Pearl S. Buck, The Good Earth
Drama: George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, George and Ira Gershwin, Of Thee I Sing
History: John J. Pershing, My Experiences in the World War
Biography or Autobiography: Henry F. Pringle, Theodore Roosevelt
Poetry: George Dillon, The Flowering Stone
1933
Editorial Writing: No author named, Kansas City (Missouri) Star
Novel: T. S. Stribling, The Store
Drama: Maxwell Anderson, Both Your Houses
History: Frederick J. Turner, The Significance of Sections in American History
Biography or Autobiography: Allan Nevins, Grover Cleveland
Poetry: Archibald MacLeish, Conquistador
1934
Editorial Writing: E. P. Chase, Atlantic (Iowa) News-Telegraph
Novel: Caroline Miller, Lamb in His Bosom
Drama: Sidney Kingsley, Men in White
History: Herbert Agar, The People’s Choice
Biography or Autobiography: Tyler Dennett, John Hay
Poetry: Robert Hillyer, Collected Verse
1935
Editorial Writing: [no award]
Novel: Josephine Winslow Johnson, Now in November
Drama: Zoë Akins, The Old Maid
History: Charles McLean Andrews, The Colonial Period of American History
Biography or Autobiography: Douglas S. Freeman, R. E. Lee
Poetry: Audrey Wurdemann, Bright Ambush
1936
Editorial Writing: Felix Morley, Washington Post; and George B. Parker, Scripps-Howard Newspaper
Novel: Harold L. Davis, Honey in the Horn
Drama: Robert E. Sherwood, Idiot’s Delight
History: Andrew C. McLaughlin, A Constitutional History of the United States
Biography or Autobiography: Ralph Barton Perry, The Thought and Character of William James
Poetry: Robert P. Tristram Coffin, Strange Holiness
1937
Editorial Writing: John W. Owens, The Baltimore Sun
Novel: Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind
Drama: Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, You Can’t Take It With You
History: Van Wyck Brooks, The Flowering of New England: 1815–1865
Biography or Autobiography: Allan Nevins, Hamilton Fish
Poetry: Robert Frost, A Further Range
1938
Editorial Writing: William Wesley Waymack, The Register and Tribune, Des Moines, Iowa
Novel: John Phillips Marquand, The Late George Apley
Drama: Thornton Wilder, Our Town
History: Paul Herman Buck, The Road to Reunion 1865–1900
Biography or Autobiography: Marquis James, Andrew Jackson
Poetry: Marya Zaturenska, Cold Morning Sky
1939
Editorial Writing: Ronald G. Callert, The Oregonian, Portland, Oregon
Novel: Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, The Yearling
Drama: Robert E. Sherwood, Abe Lincoln in Illinois
History: Frank Luther Mott, A History of American Magazines
Biography or Autobiography: Carl van Doren, Benjamin Franklin
Poetry: John Gould Fletcher, Selected Poems
1940
Editorial Writing: Bart Howard, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Novel: John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Drama: William Saroyan, The Time of Your Life
History: Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years
Biography or Autobiography: Ray Stannard Baker, Woodrow Wilson, Life and Letters
Poetry: Mark Van Doren, Collected Poems
1941
Editorial Writing: Reuben Maury, New York Daily News
Novel: [no award]
Drama: Robert E. Sherwood, There Shall Be No Night
History: Marcus Lee Hansen, The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860
Biography or Autobiography: Ola Elizabeth Winslow, Jonathan Edward
Poetry: Leonard Bacon, Sunderland Capture
1942
Editorial Writing: Geoffrey Parsons, New York Herald Tribune
Novel: Ellen Glasgow, In This Our Life
Drama: [no award]
History: Margaret Leech, Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865
Biography or Autobiography: Forrest Wilson, Crusader in Crinoline
Poetry: William Rose Benét, The Dust Which is God
1943
Editorial Writing: Forrest W. Seymour, Register and Tribune, Des Moines, Iowa
Novel: Upton Sinclair, Dragon’s Teeth
Drama: Thornton Wilder, The Skin of Our Teeth
History: Esther Forbes, Paul Revere and the World He Lived In
Biography or Autobiography: Samuel Eliot Morison, Admiral of the Ocean Sea
Poetry: Robert Frost, A Witness Tree
Music: William Schuman, Secular Cantata No. 2. A Free Song
1944
Editorial Writing: Henry J. Haskell, Kansas City (Missouri) Star
Novel: Martin Flavin, Journey in the Dark
Drama: [no award]
History: Merle Curti, The Growth of American Thought
Biography or Autobiography: Carleton Mabee, The American Leonardo: The
Life of Samuel F. B. Morse
Poetry: Stephen Vincent Benét, Western Star
Music: Howard Hanson, Symphony No. 4, Opus 34
1945
Editorial Writing: George W. Potter, Providence Journal-Bulletin
Novel: John Hersey, A Bell for Adano
Drama: Mary Chase, Harvey
History: Stephen Bonsal, Unfinished Business
Biography or Autobiography: Russell Blaine Nye, George Bancroft: Brahmin Rebel
Poetry: Karl Shapiro, V-Letter and Other Poems
Music: Aaron Copeland, Appalachian Spring
1946
Editorial Writing: Hodding Carter, Delta Democrat-Times, Greenville, Mississippi
Novel: [no award]
Drama: Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse, State of the Union
History: Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr., The Age of Jackson
Biography or Autobiography: Linnie Marsh Wolfe, Son of the Wilderness
Poetry: [no award]
Music: Leo Sowerby, The Canticle of the Sun
1947
Editorial Writing: William H. Grimes, The Wall Street Journal
Novel: Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men
Drama: [no award]
History: James Phinney Baxter 3rd, Scientists Against Time
Biography or Autobiography: William Allen White, The Autobiography of William Allen White
Poetry: Robert Lowell, Lord Weary’s Castle
Music: Charles Ives, Symphony No. 3
1948
Editorial Writing: Virginius Dabney, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Novel: James Michener, Tales of the South Pacific
Drama: Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
History: Bernard Devoto, Across the Wide Missouri
Biography or Autobiography: Margaret Clapp, Forgotten First Citizen: John Bigelow
Poetry: W. H. Auden, The Age of Anxiety
Music: Walter Piston, Symphony No. 3
1949
Editorial Writing: Herbert Elliston, Washington Post; John H. Crider, Boston Herald
Novel: James Gould Cozzens, Guard of Honor
Drama: Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
History: Roy Franklin Nichols, The Disruption of American Democracy
Biography or Autobiography: Robert E. Sherwood, Roosevelt and Hopkins
Poetry: Peter Viereck, Terror and Decorum
Music: Virgil Thompson, Louisiana Story (soundtrack)
1950
Editorial Writing: Carl M. Saunders, Jackson (Mississippi) Citizen Patriot
Novel: A. B. Guthrie, Jr., The Way West
Drama: South Pacific, by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Joshua Logan
History: Oliver W. Larkin, Art and Life in America
Biography or Autobiography: Samuel Flagg Bemis, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy
Poetry: Gwendolyn Brooks, Annie Allen
Music: Gian-Carlo Menotti, The Consul
1951
Editorial Writing: William Harry Fitzpatrick, New Orleans States
Novel: Conrad Richter, The Town
Drama: [no award]
History: R. Carlyle Buley, The Old Northwest, Pioneer Period 1815–1840
Biography or Autobiography: Margaret Louise Colt, John C. Calhoun: American Portrait
Poetry: Carl Sandburg, Complete Poems
Music: Douglas S. Moore, Giants in the Earth
1952
Editorial Writing: Louis Lacoss, St. Louis Globe Democrat
Novel: Herman Wouk, The Caine Mutiny
Drama: Joseph Kramm, The Shrike
History: Oscar Handlin, The Uprooted
Biography or Autobiography: Merlo J. Pusey, Charles Evans Hughes
Poetry: Marianne Moore, Collected Poems
Music: Gail Kubik, Symphony Concertante
1953
Editorial Writing: Vermont Connecticut Royster, Wall Street Journal
Novel: Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Drama: William Inge, Picnic
History: George Dangerfield, The Era of Good Feelings
Biography or Autobiography: David J. Mays, Edmund Pendleton 1721–1803
Poetry: Archibald MacLeish, Collected Poems 1917–1952
Music: [no award]
1954
Editorial Writing: Don Murray, Boston Herald
Novel: [no award]
Drama: John Patrick, The Teahouse of the August Moon
History: Bruce Catton, A Stillness at Appomattox
Biography or Autobiography: Charles A. Lindbergh, The Spirit of St. Louis
Poetry: Theodore Roethke, The Waking
Music: Quincy Porter, Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
1955
Editorial Writing: Royce Howes, Detroit Free Press
Novel: William Faulkner, A Fable
Drama: Tennessee Williams, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
History: Paul Horgan, Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History
Biography or Autobiography: William S. White, The Taft Story
Poetry: Wallace Stevens, Collected Poems
Music: Gian-Carlo Menotti, The Saint of Bleecker Street
1956
Editorial Writing: Lauren K. Soth, Register and Tribune, Des Moines, Iowa
Novel: Mackinlay Kantor, Andersonville
Drama: Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, The Diary of Anne Frank
History: Richard Hofstadter, The Age of Reform
Biography or Autobiography: Talbot Faulkner Hamlin, Benjamin Henry Latrobe
Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop, Poems – North and South
Music: Ernst Toch, Symphony No. 3
1957
Editorial Writing: Buford Boone, Tuscaloosa (Alabama) News
Novel: [no award]
Drama: Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey Into Night
History: George F. Kennan, Russia Leaves the War: Soviet-American Relations, 1917–1920
Biography or Autobiography: John F. Kennedy, Profiles in Courage
Poetry: Richard Wilbur, Things of This World
Music: Norman Dello Joio, Meditation on Ecclesiastics
1958
Editorial Writing: Harry S. Ashmore, Arkansas Gazette
Novel: James Agee, A Death in the Family
Drama: Ketti Frings, Look Homeward, Angel
History: Bray Hammond, Banks and Politics
Biography or Autobiography: Douglas Southall Freeman, George Washington (Volumes I - VI); John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth, George Washington (Volume VIII)
Poetry: Robert Penn Warren, Promises: Poems 1954-1956
Music: Samuel Barner, Vanessa
1959
Editorial Writing: Ralph McGill, Atlanta (Georgia) Constitution
Novel: Robert Lewis Taylor, The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters
Drama: Archibald MacLeish, J. B.
History: Leonard D. White and Jean Schneider, The Republican Era: 1869–1901
Biography or Autobiography: Arthur Walworth, Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet
Poetry: Stanley Kunitz, Selected Poems 1928–1958
Music: John LaMontaine, Concerto for Piano and Orchestra
1960
Editorial Writing: Lenoir Chambers, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
Novel: Allen Drury, Advise and Consent
Drama: Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Fiorello!
History: Margaret Leech, In the Days of McKinley
Biography or Autobiography: Samuel Eliot Morison, John Paul Jones
Poetry: W. D. Snodgrass, Heart’s Needle
Music: Elliot Carter, Second String Quartet
1961
Editorial Writing: William J. Dorvillier, San Juan (Puerto Rico) Star
Novel: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
Drama: Tad Mosel, All the Way Home
History: Herbert Feis, Between War and Peace: The Postdam Conference
Biography or Autobiography: David Donald, Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War
Poetry: Phyllis McGinley, Times Three: Selected Verse From Three Decades
Music: Walter Piston, Symphony No. 7
1962
Editorial Writing: Thomas M. Storke, Santa Barbara (California) News-Press
Novel: Edwin O’Connor, The Edge of Sadness
Drama: Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
History: Lawrence H. Gipson, The Triumphant Empire: Thunder-Clouds Gather in the West 1763–1766
Biography or Autobiography: [no award]
Poetry: Alan Dugan, Poems
Music: Robert Ward, The Crucible
1963
Editorial Writing: Ira B. Harkley, Jr., Pascagoula (Mississippi) Chronicle
Novel: William Faulkner, The Reivers
Drama: [no award]
History: Constance McLaughlin Green, Washington, Village and Capital. 1800–1878
Biography or Autobiography: Leon Edel, Henry James
Poetry: William Carlos Williams, Pictures from Breughel
Music: Samuel Barber, Piano Concerto No. 1
1964
Editorial Writing: Hazel Brannon Smith, Lexington (Mississippi) Advertiser
Novel: [no award]
Drama: [no award]
History: Sumner Chilton Powell, Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town
Biography or Autobiography: Walter Jackson Bate, John Keats
Poetry: Louis Simpson, At the End of the Open Road Music: [no award]
1965
Editorial Writing: John R. Harrison, Gainesville (Florida) Sun
Novel: Shirley Ann Grau, The Keepers of the House
Drama: Frank D. Gilroy, The Subject Was Roses
History: Irwin Unger, The Greenback Era
Biography or Autobiography: Ernest Samuels, Henry Adams
Poetry: John Berryman, 77 Dream Songs
Music: [no award]
1966
Editorial Writing: Robert Lasch, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Novel: Katherine Anne Porter, Collected Stories
Drama: [no award]
History: Perry Miller, The Life of the Mind in America
Biography or Autobiography: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days
Poetry: Richard Eberhart, Selected Poems
Music: Leslie Bassett, Variations for Orchestra
1967
Editorial Writing: Eugene Patterson, Atlanta Constitution
Novel: Bernard Malamud, The Fixer
Drama: Edward Albee, A Delicate Balance
History: William H. Goetzmann, Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and the Scientist in the Winning of the American West
Biography or Autobiography: Justin Kaplan, Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain
Poetry: Anne Sexton, Live or Die
Music: Leon Kirchner, Quarter No. 3
1968
Editorial Writing: John S. Knight, Knight Newspapers
Novel: William Styron, The Confessions of Nat Turner
Drama: [no award]
History: Bernard Bailyn, The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution
Biography or Autobiography: George E. Kennan, Memoirs
Poetry: Anthony Hecht, The Hard Hours
Music: George Crumb, Echoes of Time and the River
1969
Editorial Writing: Paul Greenberg, Pine Bluff (Arkansas) Commercial
Novel: N. Scott Momaday, House Made of Dawn
Drama: Howard Sackler, The Great White Hope
History: Leonard W. Levy, Origins of the Fifth Amendment
Biography or Autobiography: Benjamin Lawrence Reid, The Man from New York: John Quinn and His Friends
Poetry: George Oppen, Of Being Numerous
Music: Karel Husa, String Quartet No. 3
1970
Editorial Writing: Philip L. Geyelin, Washington Post
Novel: Jean Stafford, Collected Stories
Drama: Charles Gordone, No Place To Be Somebody
History: Dean Acheson, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department
Biography or Autobiography: T. Harry Williams, Huey Long
Poetry: Richard Howard, Untitled Subjects
Music: Charles Wuorinen, Time’s Encomium
1971
Editorial Writing: Horance G. Davis, Jr., Gainesville (Florida) Sun
Novel: [no award]
Drama: Paul Zindel, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds
History: Macgregor Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom
Biography or Autobiography: Lawrance Thompson, Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915–1938
Poetry: William S. Merwin, The Carrier of Ladders
Music: Mario Davidovsky, Synchronisms No. 6 for Piano and Electronic Sound
1972
Editorial Writing: John Strohmeyer, Bethlehem (Pennsylvania) Globe-Times
Novel: Wallace Stegner, Angle of Repose
Drama: [no award]
History: Carl N. Degler, Neither Black Nor White
Biography or Autobiography: Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin
Poetry: James Wright, Collected Poems
Music: Jacob Druckman, Windows
1973
Editorial Writing: Roger B. Linscott, Berkshire Eagle, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Novel: Eudora Welty, The Optimist’s Daughter
Drama: Jason Miller, That Championship Season
History: Michael Kammen, People in Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization
Biography or Autobiography: W. A. Swanberg, Luce and His Empire
Poetry: Maxine Kumin, Up Country
Music: Elliot Carter, String Quartet No. 3
1974
Editorial Writing: F. Gilman Spencer, The Trentonian, Trenton, New Jersey
Novel: [no award]
Drama: [no award]
History: Daniel J. Boorstein, The Americans: The Democratic Experience
Biography or Autobiography: Louis Sheaffer, O’Neill, Son and Artist
Poetry: Robert Lowell, The Dolphin
Music: Donald Martino, Notturno
1975
Editorial Writing: John Daniell Maurice, Charleston (West Virginia) Daily Mail
Novel: Michael Shaara, The Killer Angels
Drama: Edward Albee, Seascape
History: Dumas Malone, Jefferson and His Time, Vols. I–V
Biography or Autobiography: Robert Caro, The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Poetry: Gary Snyder, Turtle Island
Music: Dominick Argento, From the Diary of Virginia Woolf
1976
Editorial Writing: Philip P. Kerby, Los Angels Times
Novel: Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift
Drama: James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Edward Kleban, and Marvin Hamlisch, A Chorus Line
History: Paul Horgan, Lamy of Santa Fe
Biography or Autobiography: R. W. B. Lewis, Edith Wharton: A Biography
Poetry: John Ashbery, Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror
Music: Ned Rorem, Air Music
1977
Editorial Writing: Warren L. Lerude, Foster Church, and Norman F. Cardoza, (Nevada) Evening Gazette and Nevada State Journal
Novel: [no award]
Drama: Michael Cristofer, The Shadow Box
History: David M. Potter, The Impending Crisis, 1841–1867
Biography or Autobiography: John E. Mack, A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence
Poetry: James Merrill, Divine Comedies
Music: Richard Wernick, Visions of Terror and Wonder
1978
Editorial Writing: Meg Greenfield, The Washington Post
Novel: James Alan McPherson, Elbow Room
Drama: Donald L. Coburn, The Gin Game
History: Alfred D. Chandler, Jr., The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
Biography or Autobiography: Walter Jackson Bate, Samuel Johnson
Poetry: Howard Nemerov, Collected Poems
Music: Michael Colgrass, Deja Vu for Percussion Quartet and Orchestra
1979
Editorial Writing: Edwin M. Yoder, Jr., The Washington Star
Novel: John Cheever, The Stories of John Cheever
Drama: Sam Shepherd, Buried Child
History: Don E. Fehrenbacher, The Dred Scott Case
Biography or Autobiography: Leonard Baker, Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews
Poetry: Robert Penn Warren, Now and Then
Music: Joseph Schwantner, Aftertones of Infinity
1980
Editorial Writing: Robert L. Bartley, The Wall Street Journal
Novel: Norman Mailer, The Executioner’s Song
Drama: Lanford Wilson, Talley’s Folly
History: Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long
Biography or Autobiography: Edmund Morris, Theodore Roosevelt
Poetry: Donald Justice, Selected Poems
Music: David Del Tredici, In Memory of a Summer Day
1981
Editorial Writing: [no award]
Novel: John Kennedy Toole, A Confederacy of Dunces
Drama: Beth Henley, Crimes of the Heart
History: Lawrence A. Cremin, American Education: The National Experience, 1783–1876
Biography or Autobiography: Robert K. Massie, Peter the Great: His Life and World
Poetry: James Schuyler, The Morning of the Poem
Music: [no award]
1982
Editorial Writing: Jack Rosenthal, The New York Times
Novel: John Updike, Rabbit is Rich
Drama: Charles Fuller, A Soldier’s Play
History: C. Vann Woodward (ed.), Mary Chesnut’s Civil War
Biography or Autobiography: William McFeely, Grant: A Biography
Poetry: Sylvia Plath, The Collected Poems
Music: Roger Sessions, Concerto for Orchestra
1983
Editorial Writing: No authors named, The Miami Herald Editorial Board
Novel: Alice Walker, The Color Purple
Drama: Marsha Norman, ’Night, Mother
History: Rhys L. Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790
Biography or Autobiography: Russell Baker, Growing Up
Poetry: Galway Kinnell, Selected Poems
Music: Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Symphony No. 1 (Three Movements for Orchestra)
1984
Editorial Writing: Albert Scardino, The George Gazette, Savannah
Novel: William Kennedy, Ironweed
Drama: David Mamet, Glengarry Glen Ross
History: [no award]
Biography or Autobiography: Louis R. Harlan, Booker T. Washington
Poetry: Mary Oliver, American Primitive
Music: Bernard Rands, “Canti del Sole” for Tenor and Orchestra
1985
Editorial Writing: Richard Aregood, The Philadelphia Daily News
Novel: Alison Lurie, Foreign Affairs
Drama: James Lapine, Stephen Sondheim, Sunday in the Park With George
History: Thomas K. McCraw, Prophets of Regulation
Biography or Autobiography: Kenneth Silverman, The Life and Times of Cotton Mather
Poetry: Carolyn Kizer, Yin
Music: Stephen Albert, Symphony, River Run
1986
Editorial Writing: Jack Fuller, Chicago Tribune
Novel: Larry McMurtry, Lonesome Dove
Drama: [no award]
History: Walter A. McDougall, The Heavens and the Earth
Biography or Autobiography: Elizabeth Frank, Louise Bogan: A Portrait
Poetry: Henry Taylor, The Flying Change
Music: George Perle, Wind Quintet IV
1987
Editorial Writing: Jonathan Freedman, The Tribune, San Diego, California
Novel: Peter Taylor, A Summons to Memphis
Drama: August Wilson, Fences
History: Bernard Bailyn, Voyagers to the West
Biography or Autobiography: David J. Garrow, Bearing the Cross
Poetry: Rita Dove, Thomas and Beulah
Music: John Harbison, The Flight into Egypt
1988
Editorial Writing: Jane Healy, The Orlando Sentinel
Novel: Toni Morrison, Beloved
Drama: Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy
History: Robert V. Bruce, The Launching of Modern American Science 1846–1876
Biography or Autobiography: David Herbert Donald, Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe
Poetry: William Meredith, Partial Accounts
Music: William Bolcom, 12 New Etudes for Piano
1989
Editorial Writing: Louis Wille, The Chicago Tribune
Novel: Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons
Drama: Wendy Wasserstein, The Heidi Chronicles
History: James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom
Biography or Autobiography: Richard Ellmann, Oscar Wilde
Poetry: Richard Wilbur, New and Collected Poems
Music: Roger Reynolds, Whispers Out of Time
1990
Editorial Writing: Thomas J. Hylton, The Pottstown (Pennsylvania) Mercury
Novel: Oscar Hijuelos, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love
Drama: August Wilson, The Piano Lesson
History: Stanley Karnow, In Our Image
Biography or Autobiography: Sebastian De Grazia, Machiavelli in Hell
Poetry: Charles Simic, The World Doesn’t End
Music: Mel Powell, “Duplicates”: A Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra
1991
Editorial Writing: Ron Casey, Harold Jackson and Joey Kennedy, The Birmingham (Alabama) News
Novel: John Updike, Rabbit at Rest
Drama: Neil Simon, Lost in Yonkers
History: Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, A Midwife’s Tale
Biography or Autobiography: Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, Jackson Pollack
Poetry: Mona Van Duyn, Near Changes
Music: Shulamit Ran, Symphony
1992
Editorial Writing: Maria Henson, Lexington (Kentucky) Herald-Leader
Novel: Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres
Drama: Robert Schenkkan, The Kentucky Cycle
History: Mark E. Neely, Jr., The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties
Biography or Autobiography: Lewis B. Puller, Jr., Fortunate Son: The Healing of a Vietnam Vet
Poetry: James Tate, Selected Poems
Music: Wayne Peterson, The Face of the Night, The Heart of the Dark
1993
Editorial Writing: [no award]
Novel: Robert Olen Butler, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain
Drama: Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Millennium Approaches
History: Gordon S. Wood, The Radicalism of the American Revolution
Biography or Autobiography: David McCullough, Truman
Poetry: Louise Gluck, The Wild Iris
Music: Christopher Rouse, Trombone Concerto
1994
Editorial Writing: R. Bruce Dold, Chicago Tribune
Novel: E. Annie Proulx, The Shipping News
Drama: Edward Albee, Three Tall Women
History: [no award]
Biography or Autobiography: David Levering Lewis, W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race 1868–1919
Poetry: Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems
Music: Gunther Schuller, Of Reminiscences and Reflections
1995
Editorial Writing: Jeffrey Good, St. Petersburg (Florida) Times
Novel: Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries
Drama: Horton Foote, The Young Man From Atlanta
History: Doris Kearns Goodwin, No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
Biography or Autobiography: Joan D. Hedrick, Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life
Poetry: Philip Levine, The Simple Truth
Music: Morton Gould, Stringmusic
1996
Editorial Writing: Robert B. Semple, Jr., The New York Times
Novel: Richard Ford, Independence Day
Drama: Jonathan Larson, Rent
History: Alan Taylor, William Cooper’s Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic
Biography or Autobiography: Jack Miles, God: A Biography
Poetry: Jorie Graham, The Dream of the Unified Field
Music: George Walker, Lilacs, for voice and orchestra
1997
Editorial Writing: Michael Gartner, The Daily Tribune, Ames, Iowa
Novel: Steven Millhauser, Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer
Drama: [no award]
History: Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution
Biography or Autobiography: Frank McCourt, Angela’s Ashes
Poetry: Lisel Mueller, Alive Together: New and Selected Poems
Music: Wynton Marsalis, Blood on the Fields
1998
Editorial Writing: Bernard L. Stein, The Riverdale (New York) Press
Novel: Philip Roth, American Pastoral
Drama: Paula Vogel, How I Learned to Drive
History: Edward J. Larson, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion
Biography or Autobiography: Katharine Graham, Personal History
Poetry: Charles Wright, Black Zodiac
Music: Aaron Jay Kernis, String Quartet No. 2, Musica Instrumentalis
1999
Editorial Writing: New York Daily News Editorial Board
Novel: Michael Cunningham, The Hours
Drama: Margaret Edson, Wit
History: Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace, Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898
Biography or Autobiography: A. Scott Berg, Lindbergh
Poetry: Mark Strand, Blizzard of One
Music: Melinda Wagner, Concert for Flute, Strings and Percussion
2000
Editorial Writing: John C. Bersia, The Orlando Sentinel
Novel: Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
Drama: Donald Margulies, Dinner with Friends
History: David M. Kennedy, Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929–1945
Biography or Autobiography: Stacy Schiff, Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)
Poetry: C. K. Williams, Repair
Bates, J. Douglas. The Pulitzer Prize: The Inside Story of America’s Most Prestigious Award. New York: Carol Publishing, 1991.
Brennan, Elizabeth A., and Elizabeth C. Clarage. Who’s Who of Pulitzer Prize Winners. Phoenix: Oryx, 1999.
The Pulitzer Prize Organization. “Pulitzer Prize Archive,” www.pulitzer.org/Archive/archive.html
