hardcover
Hardcover

Pulitzer Prize-winning Biography

This list contains Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, autobiography, and memoir by American authors from 1918 to 2021. The Pulitzer Prizes and Fellowships were established in Columbia University by Joseph Pulitzer. Prizes are awarded by the University on the recommendation of The Pulitzer Prize Board and are announced in Spring. Nominees are organized into 22 categories across journalism, books, drama and music.

Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus

1942 • 3 Readers • 680 pages

American Lion

American Lion
ByJon Meacham

2008 • 56 Readers • 546 pages 3.8

American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer

2005 • 282 Readers • 786 pages 4.2

Angela's Ashes: A Memoir

#1 of 3 in Frank McCourt

1996 • 405 Readers • 368 pages 3.8

A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T.E. Lawrence

1976 • 3 Readers • 624 pages 3

A Son of the Middle Border

1917 • 1 Reader • 467 pages

A thousand days : John F. Kennedy in the White House

1965 • 12 Readers • 384 pages 3.5

Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

2015 • 132 Readers • 447 pages 4.3

Cover 5

Barrett Wendell and His Letters
ByMark Antony DeWolfe Howe

2 Readers

Bearing the Cross

Bearing the Cross
ByDavid J. Garrow

1986 • 11 Readers • 800 pages

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin
ByCarl Van Doren,Carl C. Van Doren

1938 • 845 pages

Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed

Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed
ByWilliam Cabell Bruce

1917 • 1 Reader

Cover 7

Benjamin Henry Latrobe
ByTalbot Faulkner Hamlin

1955 • 3 Readers • 633 pages

Bill Martin's Instant Readers

#2 of 2 in Robert Frost

1970 • 1 Reader • 700 pages

Booker T. Washington

Booker T. Washington
ByLouis R. Harlan

1972 • 1 Reader • 379 pages

Cover 6

Charles Evans Hughes
ByMerlo J. Pusey

1951 • 3 Readers • 829 pages

Charles Sumner and The Coming of the Civil War

#1 of 1 in Charles Sumner

1960 • 1 Reader • 392 pages

Cover 5

Charles W. Eliot
ByHenry James

1973 • 1 Reader

Crusader in Crinoline

Crusader in Crinoline
ByRobert Forrest Wilson

1941 • 1 Reader • 706 pages

Days of Sorrow and Pain: Leo Baeck and the Berlin Jews

1978 • 3 Readers • 396 pages

De Kooning: An American Master

De Kooning: An American Master
ByMark Stevens,Annalyn Swan

2004 • 3 Readers • 770 pages

Eden's Outcasts

Eden's Outcasts
ByJohn Matteson

2007 • 8 Readers • 512 pages

Edith Wharton: A Biography

1975 • 2 Readers • 592 pages

Edmund Pendleton, 1721-1803, Volume I

1952 • 1 Reader • 412 pages

Eleanor and Franklin

Eleanor and Franklin
ByJoseph P. Lash

1971 • 6 Readers

Cover 6

1947 • 2 Readers • 390 pages

Fortunate Son

Fortunate Son
ByLewis B. Puller Jr.

1991 • 2 Readers • 400 pages

George Bancroft, Brahmin Rebel

1944 • 2 Readers • 340 pages

George F. Kennan

George F. Kennan
ByJohn Lewis Gaddis

2012 • 816 pages

God

2 God in Three Classic Scriptures

God
ByJack Miles

1995 • 15 Readers • 464 pages 4.3

Grant

Grant
ByWilliam S. McFeely

1981 • 4 Readers • 608 pages

Cover 4

Grover Cleveland
ByAllan Nevins

1934 • 2 Readers • 832 pages

Growing Up

Growing Up
ByRussell Baker,Gilbert Riswold

1982 • 15 Readers • 352 pages 3.2

Cover 2

Hamilton Fish
ByAllan Nevins

1937 • 2 Readers • 932 pages

Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life

1994 • 2 Readers • 544 pages

Henry Adams: The Middle Years

#2 of 3 in Henry Adams

1958 • 2 Readers • 530 pages

Henry James

Henry James
ByLeon Edel

Henry James: The Treacherous Years: 1895-1901

#4 of 1 in The Life of Henry James

1969 • 352 pages

Huey Long

Huey Long
ByT. Harry Williams

1969 • 10 Readers • 944 pages 4.5

Jackson Pollock: An American Saga

Jackson Pollock: An American Saga
ByGregory White Smith,Steven Naifeh

1988 • 3 Readers • 934 pages

John Adams

John Adams
ByDavid McCullough

2001 • 232 Readers • 751 pages 4.4

John C. Calhoun: American Portrait

1951 • 2 Readers • 620 pages

John Hay

1 American Political Leaders

John Hay
ByTyler Dennett

1933 • 1 Reader • 544 pages

John Keats

John Keats
ByWalter Jackson Bate

1963 • 2 Readers • 780 pages

John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy

#1 of 1 in John Quincy Adams

1981 • 3 Readers

Jonathan Edwards: 1703-1758

Jonathan Edwards: 1703-1758
ByOla Elizabeth Winslow

1940 • 2 Readers • 406 pages

Cover 1

Julia Ward Howe, 1819-1910
ByLaura Elizabeth Richards,Maud Howe Elliott

1915 • 1 Reader • 462 pages

Khrushchev

Khrushchev
ByWilliam Taubman

2003 • 7 Readers • 896 pages 4

Lindbergh

Lindbergh
ByA. Scott Berg

1998 • 18 Readers • 690 pages 4.3

Look Homeward

Look Homeward
ByDavid Herbert Donald

1987 • 2 Readers • 577 pages

Louise Bogan: A Portrait

Louise Bogan: A Portrait
ByElizabeth Frank

1985 • 2 Readers • 460 pages

Luce and His Empire

Luce and His Empire
ByW.A. Swanberg

1972 • 2 Readers • 529 pages

Machiavelli in Hell

Machiavelli in Hell
BySebastian De Grazia

1989 • 4 Readers • 512 pages

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life

2013 • 11 Readers • 474 pages 2

Master of the Senate

#3 of 4 in The Years of Lyndon Johnson

Master of the Senate
ByRobert A. Caro

2002 • 68 Readers • 1,167 pages 4.9

Memoirs, 1925-1950

Memoirs, 1925-1950
ByGeorge F. Kennan

1967 • 3 Readers • 596 pages

Cover 5

1 Reader • 270 pages

Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography

1966 • 2 Readers • 432 pages

O'Neill

O'Neill
ByLouis Sheaffer

1973 • 1 Reader • 543 pages

Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde
ByRichard Ellmann

1987 • 8 Readers • 736 pages 5

Pedlar's Progress

Pedlar's Progress
ByOdell Shepard

1937 • 1 Reader • 580 pages

Personal History

Personal History
ByKatharine Graham

1997 • 40 Readers • 642 pages 4.3

Peter the Great

#1 of 3 in The Romanovs

Peter the Great
ByRobert K. Massie

1980 • 49 Readers • 18 pages 3.8

Prairie fires

Prairie fires
ByCaroline Fraser

2018 • 909 pages

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder

2017 • 87 Readers • 641 pages 4.2

Profiles in Courage

Profiles in Courage
ByJohn F. Kennedy

1955 • 4 Readers 5

R.E. Lee, a biography.

#1 of 1 in R. E. Lee: A Biography

R.E. Lee, a biography.
ByFreeman, Douglas Southall

1934 • 1 Reader • 647 pages

Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History

1948 • 4 Readers • 880 pages

Samuel Johnson

Samuel Johnson
ByWalter Jackson Bate

1977 • 3 Readers • 672 pages

Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir

Son of the Wilderness: The Life of John Muir
ByLinnie Marsh Wolfe,Steven Pavlos Holmes

1978 • 1 Reader • 384 pages

Sontag

Sontag
ByBenjamin Moser

2019 • 12 Readers • 832 pages 4

The Americanization of Edward Bok

1920 • 2 Readers • 316 pages

The American Leonardo: A Life of Samuel F.B. Morse

1943 • 2 Readers • 488 pages

The American Orchestra and Theodore Thomas

1927 • 2 Readers • 344 pages

The Autobiography of William Allen White

1946 • 2 Readers • 669 pages

The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo

2012 • 106 Readers • 414 pages 3.7

The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X

2020 • 42 Readers • 612 pages 4.7

The Education of Henry Adams

The Education of Henry Adams
ByHenry Adams,Library of American Art Staff

1918 • 4 Readers • 502 pages 2

The First Tycoon

The First Tycoon
ByT.J. Stiles

2009 • 23 Readers • 736 pages 3.8

The life and letters of Walter H. Page

1925 • 437 pages

The Life and Times of Cotton Mather

1984 • 3 Readers • 480 pages

Cover 5

1938 • 1 Reader • 972 pages

The Life Of John Marshall

The Life Of John Marshall
ByAlbert J. Beveridge

1984 • 594 pages

Cover 2

2010 • 2 Readers

Cover 4

1968 • 2 Readers • 708 pages

The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

2006 • 3 Readers • 527 pages 3

The new Negro

The new Negro
ByJeffrey C. Stewart

2018 • 932 pages

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt
ByHenry F. Pringle

1931 • 2 Readers • 435 pages

The Pope and Mussolini

The Pope and Mussolini
ByDavid I. Kertzer

2014 • 3 Readers

The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

1974 • 340 Readers • 1,246 pages 4.7

The Raven

The Raven
ByMarquis James

1929 • 4 Readers • 532 pages 4

The Return: Fathers, Sons, and the Land in Between

2016 • 70 Readers • 256 pages 3.7

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt

#1 of 4 in Theodore Roosevelt

2010 • 157 Readers • 960 pages 4.3

The Spirit of St. Louis

The Spirit of St. Louis
ByCharles A. Lindbergh

1950 • 10 Readers • 576 pages 4.7

Cover 6

The Taft Story
ByWilliam S. White

1 Reader

Cover 8

The Training of an American
ByBurton J. Hendrick,Walter Hines Page

1928 • 1 Reader • 464 pages

Truman

Truman
ByDavid McCullough

1992 • 88 Readers • 58 pages 4.4

Vera

Vera
ByStacy Schiff,Vera Nabokov

1999 • 8 Readers • 456 pages 2

Washington: A Life

Washington: A Life
ByRon Chernow

2010 • 176 Readers • 835 pages 4.4