Vanderbilt biography, Cold War arms race history among arts Pulitzer winners
Nonfiction books about 19th- and 20th-century history -- from a biography of voracious industrialist Cornelius Vanderbilt to World War I-era bankers to the Cold War arms race -- won Pulitzer Prizes in the arts and letters categories on Monday.
Pulitzers also went to the writers of the Broadway hit "Next to Normal" for drama; first-time novelist Paul Harding for "Tinkers" for fiction; poet Rae Armantrout for a collection called "Versed"; and classical composer Jennifer Higdon for her Violin Concerto. Higdon was only the third woman to win the award in music since it was first awarded in 1943.
In addition, country-music icon Hank Williams was honored posthumously with a special citation noting his indelible mark on the genre. Some 57 years after Williams died at age 29, the Pulitzer committee declared him "a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life."
The prize for general nonfiction when to David E. Hoffman for "The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy," which focused on the Soviet Union's response to the American arms buildup under President Ronald Reagan (the title refers to a post-apocalyptic Soviet doomsday plan). Hoffman, The Washington Post's former White House reporter and Moscow bureau chief, said the book grew out of a series he wrote for the newspaper in 1998 about the legacy of the Cold War in Russia. He worked on the book for six years while he served as the paper's foreign editor.
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Pulitzers also went to the writers of the Broadway hit "Next to Normal" for drama; first-time novelist Paul Harding for "Tinkers" for fiction; poet Rae Armantrout for a collection called "Versed"; and classical composer Jennifer Higdon for her Violin Concerto. Higdon was only the third woman to win the award in music since it was first awarded in 1943.
In addition, country-music icon Hank Williams was honored posthumously with a special citation noting his indelible mark on the genre. Some 57 years after Williams died at age 29, the Pulitzer committee declared him "a songwriter who expressed universal feelings with poignant simplicity and played a pivotal role in transforming country music into a major musical and cultural force in American life."
The prize for general nonfiction when to David E. Hoffman for "The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy," which focused on the Soviet Union's response to the American arms buildup under President Ronald Reagan (the title refers to a post-apocalyptic Soviet doomsday plan). Hoffman, The Washington Post's former White House reporter and Moscow bureau chief, said the book grew out of a series he wrote for the newspaper in 1998 about the legacy of the Cold War in Russia. He worked on the book for six years while he served as the paper's foreign editor.