Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography

Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography, established in 1981, is a category of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Works are eligible during the year of their first US publication in English, though they may be written originally in languages other than English.

Recipients

Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography winners and finalists

Year	Author	Title	Subject	Result	Ref.
1981	David McCullough	Mornings on Horseback	Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)	Winner
1982	Gay Wilson Allen	Waldo Emerson: A Biography	Ralph Waldo Emerson, American philosopher, essayist, and poet (1803–1882)	Winner
1983	Seymour Hersh	The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House	Henry Kissinger, German-born American politician, diplomat, and geopolitical consultant (1923–2023)	Winner
1984	Ernst Pawel	The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka	Franz Kafka, Bohemian writer from Prague (1883–1924)	Winner
1985	Michael Scammell	Solzhenitsyn: A Biography	Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Russian writer and historian (1918–2008)	Winner
1986	Maynard Mack	Alexander Pope: A Life	Alexander Pope, English poet (1688–1744)	Winner
1987	Kenneth S. Lynn	Hemingway	Ernest Hemingway, American author and journalist (1899–1961)	Winner
1988	Brenda Maddox	Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom	Nora Barnacle, Muse and wife of Irish author James Joyce (1884–1951)	Winner
1989	Tobias Wolff	This Boy's Life: A Memoir		Winner
1990	Geoffrey C. Ward	A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt	Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 to 1945 (1882–1945)	Winner	[1]
	Robert A. Caro	Means of Ascent: Volume 2 of The Years of Lyndon Johnson	Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969 (1908–1973)	Finalist	[1]
	Deirdre Bair	Simone de Beauvoir: A Biography	Simone de Beauvoir, French philosopher, social theorist and activist (1908–1986)
	Patricia O'Toole	The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends, 1880–1918	Henry Adams, American historian and Adams political family member (1838–1918)
	Hugo Young	The Iron Lady: A Biography of Margaret Thatcher	Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 (1925–2013)
1991	T. H. Watkins	Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874–1952	Harold L. Ickes, American politician, Secretary of State from 1933 to 1946 (1874–1952)	Winner	[2]
	Natalie Kusz	Road Song: A Memoir		Finalist	[2]
	Benita Eisler	O'Keeffe and Stieglitz: An American Romance	Georgia O'Keeffe, American modernist artist (1887–1986), and Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (1864–1946)
	Willard Sterne Randall	Benedict Arnold: Patriot and Traitor	Benedict Arnold, American military officer during the Revolutionary War who defected to the British (1741–1801)
	John Richardson	A Life of Picasso: Volume 1. The Prodigy, 1881–1906	Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor, known for co-founding the Cubist movement (1881–1973)
1992	Blanche Wiesen Cook	Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume One, 1884–1933	Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1884–1962)	Winner	[3]
	Edwin Haviland Miller	Salem Is My Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne	Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist and short story writer (1804–1864)	Finalist	[3]
	Deena Ruth Rosenberg	Fascinating Rhythm: The Collaboration of George and Ira Gershwin	George Gershwin, American pianist and composer (1898–1937), and his brother, Ira Gershwin, American lyricist (1896–1983)
	Kenneth Silverman	Edgar A. Poe: Mournful and Never-ending Remembrance	Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)
	William Martin	A Prophet With Honor: The Billy Graham Story	Billy Graham, American Christian evangelist (1918–2018)
1993	John Mack Faragher	Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer	Daniel Boone, American pioneer and frontiersman (1734–1820)	Winner	[4]
	Antonia Fraser	The Six Wives of Henry VIII	Wives of Henry VIII	Finalist	[4]
	Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., Philip B. Kunhardt III, and Peter W. Kunhardt	Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography	Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865 (1809–1865)
	William Lanouette and Bela Silard	Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb	Leo Szilard, Hungarian-American physicist and inventor (1898–1964)
	Joseph Brent	Charles Sanders Peirce: A Life	Charles Sanders Peirce, American thinker who founded pragmatism (1839–1914)
1994	Mikal Gilmore	Shot in the Heart	Gary Gilmore, American murderer (1940–1977)	Winner	[5]
	Ruth Butler	Rodin: The Shape of Genius	Auguste Rodin, French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture (1840–1917)	Finalist	[5]
	Gerald Gunther	Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge	Learned Hand, American jurist (1872–1961)
	Joan D. Hedrick	Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life	Harriet Beecher Stowe, American abolitionist and author (1811–1896)
	Brian Keenan	An Evil Cradling
1995	Doris Lessing	Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949		Winner	[6]
	Susan Quinn	Marie Curie: A Life	Marie Curie, Polish-French physicist and chemist (1867–1934)	Finalist	[6]
	Tobias Wolff	In Pharaoh's Army: Memories of the Lost War
	Alix Kates Shulman	Drinking the Rain: A Memoir
	Brenda Maddox	D.H. Lawrence: The Story of a Marriage	D. H. Lawrence, English writer and poet (1885–1930)
1996	Frank McCourt	Angela's Ashes: A Memoir		Winner	[7]
	Fiona MacCarthy	William Morris: A Life for Our Time	William Morris, British textile designer, novelist, and socialist activist (1834–1896)	Finalist	[7]
	Lyle Leverich	Tom: The Unknown Tennessee Williams	Tennessee Williams, American playwright (1911–1983)
	Simon Callow	Orson Welles: The Road to Xanadu	Orson Welles, American actor, director, writer, and producer (1915–1985)
	John Richardson	A Life of Picasso: Volume 2. The Cubist Rebel, 1907–1916	Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor, known for co-founding the Cubist movement (1881–1973)
	Hannah Pakula	An Uncommon Woman: The Empress Frederick	Victoria, Princess Royal, princess of the United Kingdom and German Empress (1840–1901)
	Gail Levin	Edward Hopper: An Intimate Biography	Edward Hopper, American realist painter, widely known for his oil paintings (1882–1967)
	Joan Mellen	Hellman and Hammett: The Legendary Passion of Lillian Hellman and Dashiell Hammett	Lillian Hellman, American dramatist and screenwriter (1905–1984), and Dashiell Hammett, American writer (1894–1961)
1997	Sam Tanenhaus	Whittaker Chambers: A Biography	Whittaker Chambers, Defected communist spy, writer, editor (1901– 1961)	Winner	[8]
	A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax	Bogart	Humphrey Bogart, American actor (1899–1957)	Finalist	[8]
	James Salter	Burning the Days: Recollection
	Alan Schom	Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life	Napoleon, French Emperor 1804–1814 and again in 1815 (1769–1821)
	Gavin Lambert	Nazimova: A Biography	Alla Nazimova, Russian-American actress, director, and producer (1879–1945)
1998	A. Scott Berg	Lindbergh	Charles Lindbergh, American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist (1902–1974)	Winner	[9]
	Fintan O'Toole	A Traitor's Kiss: The Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751–1816	Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish satirist, a politician, a playwright, poet, and long-term owner of the London Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (1751–1816)	Finalist	[9]
	Barbara Goldsmith	Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism, and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull	Victoria Woodhull, American women's suffrage movement leader (1838–1927)
	Hilary Spurling	The Unknown Matisse: Volume 1. The Early Years, 1869–1908	Henri Matisse, 20th-century French artist (1869–1954)
	Graham Robb	Victor Hugo: A Biography	Victor Hugo, French novelist, poet, and dramatist (1802–1885)
1999	Judith Thurman	Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette	Colette, French writer, (1873–1954)	Winner	[10]
	Benita Eisler	Byron: Child of Passion, Fool of Fame	Lord Byron, 19th-century English Romantic poet and lyricist (1788–1824)	Finalist	[10]
	Robert Clark	My Grandfather's House: A Genealogy of Doubt and Faith
	Simon Schama	Rembrandt's Eyes	Rembrandt, 17th-century Dutch painter and printmaker (1606–1669)
	Jerome Loving	Walt Whitman: The Song of Himself	Walt Whitman, American poet, essayist and journalist (1819–1892)
2000	William J. Cooper, Jr.	Jefferson Davis, American	Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865 (1808–1889)	Winner	[11]
	Joseph J. Ellis	Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation	Founding Fathers of the United States	Finalist	[11]
	Ian Kershaw	Hitler: Volume 2. 1936–1945 Nemesis	Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany (1889–1945)
	Philip Short	Mao: A Life	Mao Zedong, also known as chairman Mao, founding father of the People's Republic of China (1893–1976)
	H.W. Brands	The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin	Benjamin Franklin, American polymath and a Founding Father of the United States (1706–1790)
2001	Edmund Morris	Theodore Rex	Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)	Winner	[12][13]
	Adam Sisman	Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson	James Boswell, Scottish lawyer, diarist, and author (1740–1795)	Finalist	[12]
	David McCullough	John Adams	John Adams, 2nd president of the United States, serving from 1797 to 1801 (1735–1826)
	Antonia Fraser	Marie Antoinette: The Journey	Marie Antoinette, Queen of France from 1774 to 1792 (1755–1793)
	Laura Hillenbrand	Seabiscuit: An American Legend	Seabiscuit, Champion thoroughbred racehorse in the United States
2002	Robert A. Caro	Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. 3	Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969 (1908–1973)	Winner	[14]
	T. J. Stiles	Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War	Jesse James, American outlaw (1847–1882)	Finalist	[14][15]
	Claire Tomalin	Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self	Samuel Pepys, English diarist (1633–1703)
	Daniel Ellsberg	Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers
	Gioconda Belli	The Country Under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War
2003	Neil Smith	American Empire: Roosevelt's Geographer and the Prelude to Globalization	Isaiah Bowman, American geographer and President of Johns Hopkins University, 1935–1948 (1878–1950)	Winner	[16]
	Robert Hughes	Goya	Francisco Goya, 18th and 19th-century Spanish painter and printmaker (1746–1828)	Finalist	[16]
	Deirdre Bair	Jung: A Biography	Carl Jung, Swiss psychiatrist and psychotherapist (1875–1961)
	T.J. Binyon	Pushkin: A Biography	Alexander Pushkin, Russian poet, playwright, and novelist (1799–1837)
	Rebecca Solnit	River of Shadows: Eadweard Muybridge and the Technological Wild West	Eadweard Muybridge, English-American photographer, known for his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion, and early work in motion-picture projection (1830–1904)
2004	Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan	de Kooning: An American Master	Willem de Kooning, Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist (1904– 1997)	Winner	[17]
	Ron Chernow	Alexander Hamilton	Alexander Hamilton, American founding father and statesman (1757–1804)	Finalist	[17][18]
	Richard Rhodes	John James Audubon: The Making of an American	John James Audubon, American self-trained artist, naturalist, and ornithologist (1785–1851)
	Michael Ybarra	Washington Gone Crazy: Senator Pat McCarran and the Great American Communist Hunt	Pat McCarran, American judge and politician (1876–1954)
	Stephen Greenblatt	Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare	William Shakespeare, English poet, playwright, and actor (1564–1616)
2005	Hilary Spurling	Matisse the Master: A Life of Henri Matisse, the Conquest of Colour, 1909–1954	Henri Matisse, 20th-century French artist (1869–1954)	Winner	[19]
	Andrew Delbanco	Melville: His World and Work	Herman Melville, 19th-century American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet (1819–1891)	Finalist	[19]
	Marion Elizabeth Rodgers	Mencken: The American Iconoclast	H. L. Mencken, American journalist and writer (1880–1956)
	Doris Kearns Goodwin	Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln	Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 to 1865
	Steven Watts	The People's Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century	Henry Ford, American industrialist and businessman (1863–1947)
2006	Neal Gabler	Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination	Walt Disney, American entrepreneur, animator and producer (1901–1966)	Winner	[20]
	Jeffrey Goldberg	Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide		Finalist	[20]
	Rodney Bolt	The Librettist of Venice: The Remarkable Life of Lorenzo Da Ponte	Lorenzo Da Ponte, Italian, later American, opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest (1749–1838)
	Daniel Mendelsohn	The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million
	Debby Applegate	The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher	Henry Ward Beecher, American clergyman and abolitionist (1813–1887)
2007	Simon Sebag Montefiore	Young Stalin	Joseph Stalin, Leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953 (1878–1953)	Winner	[21]
	Robert Morgan	Boone: A Biography	Daniel Boone, American pioneer and frontiersman (1734–1820)	Finalist	[21]
	Nancy Isenberg	Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr	Aaron Burr, 3rd vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 (1756–1836)
	Tim Jeal	Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer	Henry Morton Stanley, Welsh journalist and explorer, famous for his exploration of Central Africa (1841–1904)
	Michael J. Neufeld	Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War	Wernher von Braun, German-American aerospace engineer (1912–1977)
2008	Paula J. Giddings	Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching	Ida B. Wells, African-American civil rights activist (1862–1931)	Winner	[22]
	Jon Meacham	American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House	Andrew Jackson, 7th president of the United States from 1829 to 1837 (1767–1845)	Finalist	[22]
	Jackie Wullschlager	Chagall: A Biography	Marc Chagall, French artist (1887–1985)
	Ernest Freeberg	Democracy's Prisoner: Eugene V. Debs, the Great War, and the Right to Dissent
	H.W. Brands	Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt	Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd president of the United States from 1933 to 1945
2009	Linda Gordon	Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits	Dorothea Lange, American photojournalist (1895–1965)	Winner	[23]
	Michael Scammell	Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic	Arthur Koestler, Jewish Hungarian-British author and journalist (1905–1983)	Finalist	[23]
	Melvin I. Urofsky	Louis D. Brandeis: A Life	Louis D. Brandeis, United States Supreme Court justice from 1916 to 1939 (1856–1941)
	Kenneth Whyte	The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst	William Randolph Hearst, American newspaper publisher (1863–1951)
	Kirstin Downey	The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience	Frances Perkins, American politician and workers rights advocate (1880–1965)
2010	Laura Hillenbrand	Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption	Louis Zamperini, American athlete and army officer (1917–2014)	Winner	[24][25]
	Edmund Morris	Colonel Roosevelt	Theodore Roosevelt, 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909 (1858–1919)	Finalist	[24]
	Miranda Carter	George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I	King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia
	Christopher Hitchens	Hitch-22: A Memoir
	Selina Hastings	The Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham: A Biography	W. Somerset Maugham, English playwright and writer (1874–1965)
2011	John A. Farrell	Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned	Clarence Darrow, American lawyer and leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union (1857– 1938)	Winner	[26]
	Robert K. Massie	Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman	Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796 (1729–1796)	Finalist	[26]
	Manning Marable	Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention	Malcolm X, African-American human rights activist (1925–1965)
	Mark Whitaker	My Long Trip Home: A Family Memoir
	Alexandra Styron	Reading My Father: A Memoir
2012	Robert A. Caro	The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson	Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969 (1908–1973)	Winner	[27]
	Alice Kessler-Harris	A Difficult Woman: The Challenging Life and Times of Lillian Hellman	Lillian Hellman, American dramatist and screenwriter (1905–1984)	Finalist	[27]
	H.W. Brands	The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace	Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877 (1822–1885)
	R.J. Smith	The One: The Life and Music of James Brown	James Brown, American musician (1933–2006)
	David Nasaw	The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy	Joseph P. Kennedy, American businessman and politician (1888–1969)
2013	Marie Arana	Bolivar: American Liberator	Simon Bolívar, Venezuelan military and political leader (1783–1830)	Winner	[28]
	Deborah Solomon	American Mirror: The Life and Art of Norman Rockwell	Norman Rockwell, 20th-century American painter and illustrator (1894–1978)	Finalist	[28]
	Edna O'Brien	Country Girl: A Memoir
	Benita Eisler	The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman	George Catlin, 19th-century American painter, adventurer, lawyer, author, and traveler (1796–1872)
	A. Scott Berg	Wilson	Woodrow Wilson, 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921 (1856–1924)
2014	Andrew Roberts	Napoleon: A Life	Napoleon, French Emperor 1804–1814 and again in 1815 (1769–1821)	Winner	[29]
	Robert M. Dowling	Eugene O'Neill: A Life in Four Acts	Eugene O'Neill, American playwright, and Nobel laureate in Literature (1888–1953)	Finalist	[29][30]
	Kirstin Downey	Isabella: The Warrior Queen	Isabella of Castile, Queen of Castile who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey and established the Spanish Inquisition (1451–1504)
	Stephen Kotkin	Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928	Joseph Stalin, Leader of the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953 (1878–1953)
	Adam Begley	Updike	John Updike, American novelist, poet, short story writer, art critic, and literary critic (1932–2009)
2015	Hayden Herrera	Listening to Stone: The Art and Life of Isamu Noguchi	Isamu Noguchi, Japanese-American artist (1904–1988)	Winner	[31]
	Terry Alford	Fortune's Fool: The Life of John Wilkes Booth	John Wilkes Booth, 19th-century American stage actor and assassin of Abraham Lincoln (1838–1865)	Finalist	[31]
	Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs	Jonas Salk: A Life	Jonas Salk, 20th-century American virologist; inventor of the polio vaccine (1914–1995)
	John Norris	Mary McGrory The First Queen of Journalism	Mary McGrory, American journalist and columnist (1918 –2004)
	Patrick McGilligan	Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane	Orson Welles, American actor, director, writer, and producer (1915–1985)
2016	Volker Ullrich with Jefferson Chase (trans.)	Hitler: Ascent, 1889–1939	Adolf Hitler, Führer of Nazi Germany (1889–1945)	Winner	[32]
	Claire Harman	Charlotte Brontë: A Fiery Heart	Charlotte Brontë, English novelist and poet (1816–1855)	Finalist	[32]
	Frances Wilson	Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey	Thomas De Quincey, English essayist, (1785–1859)
	James McBride	Kill 'Em and Leave: Searching for the Real James Brown	James Brown, American musician (1933–2006)
	Ross King	Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies	Claude Monet, French painter (1840–1926)
2017	Laura Walls	Henry David Thoreau: A Life	Henry David Thoreau, 19th-century American essayist, poet, and philosopher	Winner	[33][34]
	Jonathan Eig	Ali: A Life	Muhammad Ali, American boxer, philanthropist and activist (1942–2016)	Finalist	[33]
	Adam Federman	Fasting and Feasting: The Life of Visionary Food Writer Patience Gray	Patience Gray, English cookery and travel writer of the mid-20th century (1917– 2005)
	Ron Chernow	Grant	Ulysses S. Grant, 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877 (1822 –1885)
	John A. Farrell	Richard Nixon: The Life	Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States from 1969 to 1974 (1913–1994)
2018	David W. Blight	Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom	Frederick Douglass, African-American social reformer, writer, and abolitionist (c. 1818–1895)	Winner	[35]
	Seymour M. Hersh	Reporter: A Memoir	Seymour M. Hersh, American journalist (1937–)	Finalist	[36]
	Victoria Johnson	American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic	David Hosack, American physician, botanist, and educator (1769–1835)
	Bob Spitz	Reagan: An American Journey	Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States, serving from 1981 to 1989 (1911–2004)
	Tara Westover	Educated	Tara Westover, American historian and author (1986–)
2019	George Packer	Our Man: Richard Holbrooke and the End of the American Century	Richard Holbrooke, American diplomat and author (1941–2010)	Winner	[37][38][39]
	Leo Damrosch	The Club	Samuel Johnson, James Boswell, Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, Edward Gibbon, and James Boswell	Finalist	[40][41]
	Victoria Riskin	Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir	Fay Wray, American actress (1907–2004), and Robert Riskin, American screenwriter and playwright (1897–1955)
	Yuval Taylor	Zora and Langston	Zora Neale Hurston, American folklorist, novelist, and short story writer (1891–1960), and Langston Hughes, American writer and social activist (1901–1967)
	Evan Thomas	First: Sandra Day O'Connor	Sandra Day O'Connor, United States Supreme Court justice (1930–)
2020	William Souder	Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck	John Steinbeck, American writer (1902–1968)	Winner	[42][43]
	Les Payne and Tamara Payne	The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X	Malcolm X, African-American human rights activist (1925–1965)	Finalist	[44][42]
	Heather Clark	Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath	Sylvia Plath, American poet, novelist and short story writer (1932–1963)
	Blake Gopnik	Warhol	Andy Warhol, American artist, film director, and producer (1928–1987)
	David Michaelis	Eleanor	Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945 (1884–1962)
2021	Paul Auster	Burning Boy: The Life and Work of Stephen Crane	Stephen Crane, American novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist (1871–1900)	Winner	[45]
	Nick Davis	Competing With Idiots: Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, A Dual Portrait	Herman Mankiewicz, American screenwriter (1897–1953) and Joseph L. Mankiewicz, American film director (1909–1993)	Finalist	[45]
	Rebecca Donner	All the Frequent Troubles of Our Days: The True Story of the American Woman at the Heart of the German Resistance to Hitler	Mildred Harnack, American-German literary historian (1902–1943)
	Mark Harris	Mike Nichols: A Life	Mike Nichols, American television director, writer, producer and comedian (1931–2014)
	John Tresch	The Reason for the Darkness of the Night: Edgar Allan Poe and the Forging of American Science	Edgar Allan Poe, American writer and literary critic (1809–1849)
2022	Beverly Gage	G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century	J. Edgar Hoover, American law-enforcement administrator (1895–1972)	Winner	[46]
	Tomiko Brown-Nagin	Civil Rights Queen: Constance Baker Motley and the Struggle for Equality	Constance Baker Motley, American judge and politician (1921–2005)	Finalist	[46]
	Jennifer Homans	Mr. B: George Balanchine's 20th Century	George Balanchine, Georgian-American ballet choreographer (1904–1983)
	David Maraniss	Path Lit by Lightning: The Life of Jim Thorpe	Jim Thorpe, American athlete (1887–1953)
	Robert Samuels and Toluse Olorunnipa	His Name Is George Floyd: One Man's Life and the Struggle for Racial Justice	George Floyd, African-American man murdered by police (1973–2020)
2023	Gregg Hecimovich	The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative	Hannah Crafts, American writer	Winner	[47][48]
	Leah Redmond Chang	Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power		Finalist	[47]
	Jonny Steinberg	Winnie and Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage
	Elizabeth R. Varon	Longstreet: The Confederate General Who Defied the South	James Longstreet, American general (1821–1904)
	David Waldstreicher	The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley: A Poet’s Journeys Through American Slavery and Independence	Phillis Wheatley, African-American writer (c. 1753–1784)