Finalist: Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt , by H.W. Brands (Doubleday )
A richly textured and highly readable exploration of the inner Roosevelt, presented with analytical acuity and flashes of originality.
Winners
Prize Winner in Biography in 2009:
Jon Meacham
An unflinching portrait of a not always admirable democrat but a pivotal president, written with an agile prose that brings the Jackson saga to life.
Biography
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Biography in 2009:
Steve Coll
An epic tale extending far beyond Osama Bin Laden and the calamity of 9/11, rooted in meticulous research and written with an urgency, clarity and flair that entertains as easily as it educates.
The Jury
The Jury
Debby Applegate*
author
Martin J. Sherwin(chair )*
university professor
Steve Isenberg
visiting professor of humanities
Winners in Biography
2009 Prize Winners
Patrick Farrell
For his provocative, impeccably composed images of despair after Hurricane Ike and other lethal storms caused a humanitarian disaster in Haiti.
W.S. Merwin
A collection of luminous, often tender poems that focus on the profound power of memory.
Las Vegas Sun, and notably the courageous reporting by Alexandra Berzon
For the exposure of the high death rate among construction workers on the Las Vegas Strip amid lax enforcement of regulations, leading to changes in policy and improved safety conditions.
Staff
For its swift and sweeping coverage of a sex scandal that resulted in the resignation of Gov. Eliot Spitzer, breaking the story on its Web site and then developing it with authoritative, rapid-fire reports.