Year
|
Author
|
Title
|
Result
|
Ref.
|
1980
|
Harrison Salisbury
|
Without Fear or Favor
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1981
|
Jacobo Timerman
|
Prisoner without a Name, Cell without a Number
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1982
|
Jonathan Schell
|
The Fate of the Earth
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1983
|
Walker Percy
|
Lost in the Cosmos
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1984
|
Jane Jacobs
|
Cities and the Wealth of Nations
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1985
|
Robert N. Bellah, Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Tipton
|
Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1986
|
Joseph Lelyveld
|
Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1987
|
Richard Dawkins
|
The Blind Watchmaker
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1988
|
William Greider
|
Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1989
|
Taylor Branch
|
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-1963
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
1990
|
O. B. Hardison, Jr.
|
Disappearing through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Vaclav Havel and Paul Wilson
|
Disturbing the Peace: A Conversation with Karel Huizdala
|
Finalist
|
[2]
|
Rian Malan
|
My Traitor’s Heart: A South African Exile Returns to Face His Country, His Tribe, and His Conscience
|
Rick Atkinson
|
The Long Gray Line: The American Journey of West Point’s Class of 1966
|
Kevin Phillips
|
The Blind Watchmaker
|
1991
|
E. J. Dionne, Jr.
|
Why Americans Hate Politics: The Death of the Democratic Process
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Shelby Steele
|
The Content of Our Character: A New Vision of Race in America
|
Finalist
|
[3]
|
Daniel Yergin
|
The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power
|
Nicholas Lemann
|
The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America
|
Alan Ehrenhalt
|
The United States of Ambition: Politicians, Power, and the Pursuit of Office
|
1992
|
Francis Fukuyama
|
The End of History and the Last Man
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Thomas Byrne Edsall and Mary D. Edsall
|
Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes on American Politics
|
Finalist
|
[4]
|
James Davison Hunter
|
Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America
|
James B. Stewart
|
Den of Thieves
|
Pico Iyer
|
The Lady and the Monk: Four Seasons in Kyoto
|
1993
|
Peter Skerry
|
Mexican Americans: The Ambivalent Minority
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Doris May Lessing
|
African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe
|
Finalist
|
[5]
|
Randy Shilts
|
Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the U.S. Military
|
Paul Kennedy
|
Preparing for the Twenty-First Century
|
David Brock
|
The Real Anita Hill
|
1994
|
Henry Kissinger
|
Diplomacy
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Harry V. Jaffa
|
Original Intent and the Framers of the Constitution: A Disputed Question
|
Finalist
|
[6]
|
Brent Staples
|
Parallel Time: Growing Up in Black and White
|
James Q. Wilson
|
The Moral Sense
|
Katie Roiphe
|
The Morning After: Sex, Fear and Feminism on Campus
|
1995
|
Gregory Howard Williams
|
Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Michael J. Piore
|
Beyond Individualism: How Social Demands of the New Identity Groups Challenge American Political and
|
Finalist
|
[7]
|
Nancy Abelmann and John Lie
|
Blue Dreams: Korean Americans and the Los Angeles Riots
|
Sara McLanahan and Gary Sandefur
|
Growing Up With a Single Parent: What Hurts, What Helps
|
Jeffrey Abramson
|
We, the Jury: The Jury System and the Ideal of Democracy
|
1996
|
Peter Maass
|
Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Jonathan Harr
|
A Civil Action
|
Finalist
|
[8]
|
Fox Butterfield
|
All God’s Children: The Bosket Family and the American Tradition of Violence
|
Richard Kluger
|
Ashes to Ashes: America’s Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris
|
John Hockenberry
|
Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence
|
David Quammen
|
The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions
|
Evan Thomas
|
The Very Best Men: Four Who Dared: The Early Years of the CIA
|
Marc Parent
|
Turning Stones: My Days and Nights with Children at Risk
|
1997
|
Anne Fadiman
|
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Jon Krakauer
|
Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
|
Finalist
|
[9]
|
Bernard Lefkowitz
|
Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfect Suburb
|
Randall Kennedy
|
Race, Crime, and the Law
|
Daniel Harris
|
The Rise and Fall of Gay Culture
|
1998
|
Philip Gourevitch
|
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Russ Rymer
|
American Beach: A Saga of Race, Wealth, and Memory
|
Finalist
|
[10]
|
Cynthia Gorney
|
Articles of Faith: A Frontline History of the Abortion Wars
|
William Finnegan
|
Cold New World: Growing Up in a Harder Country
|
Cristina Rathbone
|
On the Outside Looking In: A Year in an Inner-City High School
|
1999
|
Mitchell Duneier with Ovie Carter (photographer)
|
Sidewalk
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Leila Ahmed
|
A Border Passage: From Cairo to America—A Woman’s Journey
|
Finalist
|
[11]
|
Richard A. Posner
|
An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton
|
Mark Bowden
|
Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War
|
Joshua Hammer
|
Chosen By God: A Brother’s Journey
|
2000
|
Frances FitzGerald
|
Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Patrick Tierney
|
Darkness in El Dorado: How Scientists and Journalists Devastated the Amazon
|
Finalist
|
[12]
|
S.L. Price
|
Pitching Around Fidel: A Journey into the Heart of Cuban Sports
|
Ian Buruma
|
The Missionary and the Libertine: Love and War in East and West
|
Sherwin B. Nuland
|
The Mysteries Within: A Surgeon Explores Myth, Medicine, and the Human Body
|
2001
|
Barbara Ehrenreich
|
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America
|
Winner
|
[13]
|
Stanley Cohen
|
States of Denial: Knowing About Atrocities and Suffering
|
Finalist
|
[14]
|
Ann Crittenden
|
The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World Is Still the Least Valued
|
John W. Dean
|
The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment That Redefined the Supreme Court
|
Ron Powers
|
Tom and Huck Don’t Live Here Anymore
|
2002
|
Judith Levine
|
Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Timothy Ferris
|
Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space, and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril
|
Finalist
|
[15]
|
Nicolaus Mills and Kira Brunner (editors)
|
The New Killing Fields: Massacre and the Politics of Intervention
|
Kevin Phillips
|
Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich
|
Samantha Power
|
A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide
|
2003
|
Ross Terrill
|
The New Chinese Empire - And What It Means for the United States
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Carlo Rotella
|
Cut Time: An Education at the Fights
|
Finalist
|
[16]
|
Anthony Swofford
|
Jarhead: A Marine’s Chronicle of the Gulf War and Other Battles
|
Jon Krakauer
|
Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith
|
Gerald Posner
|
Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11
|
2004
|
Evan Wright
|
Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America and the New Face of American War
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Edward Conlon
|
Blue Blood
|
Finalist
|
[17]
|
Michael Dirda
|
Bound to Please
|
Karen Armstrong
|
The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness
|
Ann Patchett
|
Truth & Beauty: A Friendship
|
2005
|
Anthony Shadid
|
Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War
|
Winner
|
[18]
|
Kurt Eichenwald
|
Conspiracy of Fools: A True Story
|
Finalist
|
[19]
|
Steve Bogira
|
Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse
|
John Updike
|
Still Looking: Essays on American Art
|
Jonathan Harr
|
The Lost Painting: The Quest for a Caravaggio Masterpiece
|
2006
|
Ian Buruma
|
Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance
|
Winner
|
[20][21]
|
Rajiv Chandrasekaran
|
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone
|
Finalist
|
[22]
|
Terri Jentz
|
Strange Piece of Paradise
|
Alicia Drake
|
The Beautiful Fall: Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent, and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris
|
Douglas Brinkley
|
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast
|
2007
|
Elizabeth D. Samet
|
Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Ishmael Beah
|
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier
|
Finalist
|
[23]
|
Tom Bissell
|
The Father of All Things: A Marine, His Son, and the Legacy of Vietnam
|
Ronald Brownstein
|
The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America
|
Naomi Klein
|
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
|
2008
|
Barton Gellman
|
Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency
|
Winner
|
[24][25]
|
Jill Bolte Taylor
|
My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey
|
Finalist
|
[26]
|
Steve Coll
|
The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century
|
Jane Mayer
|
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals
|
Dexter Filkins
|
The Forever War
|
2009
|
Dave Eggers
|
Zeitoun
|
Winner
|
[27]
|
Dave Cullen
|
Columbine
|
Finalist
|
[28]
|
Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
|
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
|
Tracy Kidder
|
Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness
|
T.R. Reid
|
The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care
|
2010
|
Michael Lewis
|
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine
|
Winner
|
[29][30]
|
Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera
|
All the Devils Are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis
|
Finalist
|
[31]
|
Patti Smith
|
Just Kids
|
Jonathan Alter
|
The Promise: President Obama, Year One
|
Sebastian Junger
|
War
|
2011
|
Daniel Kahneman
|
Thinking, Fast and Slow
|
Winner
|
[32]
|
Ioan Grillo
|
El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency
|
Finalist
|
[33]
|
Alex Bellos
|
Is That a Fish in Your Ear?: Translation and the Meaning of Everything
|
Anatol Lieven
|
Pakistan: A Hard Country
|
Seth Mnookin
|
The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear
|
2012
|
Katherine Boo
|
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum
|
Winner
|
[34][35]
|
Jim Sterba
|
Nature Wars: The Incredible Story of How Wildlife Comebacks Turned Backyards into Battlegrounds
|
Finalist
|
[36]
|
Karen Elliott House
|
On Saudi Arabia: Its People, Past, Religion, Fault Lines—and Future
|
Steve Coll
|
Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power
|
Jake Tapper
|
The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor
|
2013
|
Sheri Fink
|
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
|
Winner
|
[37][38]
|
Charlie LeDuff
|
Detroit: An American Autopsy
|
Finalist
|
[39]
|
Lawrence Wright
|
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief
|
Barry Siegel
|
Manifest Injustice: The True Story of a Convicted Murderer and the Lawyers Who Fought for His Freedom
|
David Finkel
|
Thank You for Your Service
|
2014
|
Jeff Hobbs
|
The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League
|
Winner
|
[40][41]
|
Atul Gawande
|
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
|
Finalist
|
[42]
|
Bryan Stevenson
|
Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption
|
Matt Taibbi
|
The Divide: American Injustice in the Age of the Wealth Gap
|
Héctor Tobar
|
Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free
|
2015
|
Sarah Chayes
|
Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security
|
Winner
|
[1]
|
Joe Domanick
|
Blue: The LAPD and the Battle to Redeem American Policing
|
Finalist
|
[43]
|
Sandy Tolan
|
Children of the Stone: The Power of Music in a Hard Land
|
Sam Quinones
|
Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic
|
Stephen Witt
|
How Music Got Free: The End of an Industry, the Turn of the Century
|
2016
|
Svetlana Alexievich with Bela Shayevich (trans.)
|
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets
|
Winner
|
[44]
|
Robert F. Worth
|
A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS
|
Finalist
|
[45]
|
Ben Rawlence
|
City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp
|
Jane Mayer
|
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right
|
Matthew Desmond
|
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
|
2017
|
Nancy MacLean
|
Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right's Stealth Plan for America
|
Winner
|
[46]
|
James Forman Jr.
|
Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America
|
Finalist
|
[47]
|
Rick Wartzman
|
The End of Loyalty: The Rise and Fall of Good Jobs in America
|
Lauren Markham
|
The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life
|
Ta-Nehisi Coates
|
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
|
2018
|
Francisco Cantu
|
The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches From the Border
|
Winner
|
[48]
|
2019
|
Emily Bazelon
|
Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration
|
Winner
|
[49][50][51]
|
Mark Arax
|
The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California
|
Finalist
|
[49][50]
|
Ronan Farrow
|
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators
|
Dina Nayeri
|
The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You
|
Rachel Louise Snyder
|
No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us
|
2020
|
Isabel Wilkerson
|
Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents
|
Winner
|
[52]
|
Brittany K. Barnett
|
A Knock at Midnight: A Story of Hope, Justice, and Freedom
|
Finalist
|
[53]
|
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
|
The Undocumented Americans
|
Christine Montross
|
Waiting for an Echo: The Madness of American Incarceration
|
Jacob Soboroff
|
Separated: Inside an American Tragedy
|
2021
|
Adam Schiff
|
Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could
|
Winner
|
[54]
|
Andrea Elliott
|
Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City
|
Finalist
|
[55]
|
Heather McGhee
|
The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together
|
Reuben Jonathan Miller
|
Halfway Home: Race, Punihsment, and the Afterlife of Mass Incarceration
|
Evan Osnos
|
Wildland: The Making of America’s Fury
|
2022
|
Dahlia Lithwick
|
Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America
|
Winner
|
[56]
|
Anand Giridharadas
|
The Persuaders: At the Front Lines of the Fight for Hearts, Minds, and Democracy
|
Finalist
|
[56]
|
Sarah Kendzior
|
They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent
|
Luke Mogelson
|
The Storm is Here: An American Crucible
|
Dorothy Roberts
|
Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families — and How Abolition Can Build a Safer World
|
2023
|
Roxanna Asgarian
|
We Were Once A Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America
|
Winner
|
[57]
|
Bettina L. Love
|
Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal
|
Finalist
|
[57]
|
Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson
|
American Gun: The True Story of the AR-15
|
Christina Sharpe
|
Ordinary Notes
|
Raja Shehadeh
|
We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir
|