Finalist: Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World , by Leo Damrosch (Yale University Press )
A seminal work that illuminates the famous yet enigmatic satirist who was also a crucial figure in 18th century Anglo-Irish politics.
Winners
Prize Winner in Biography in 2014:
Megan Marshall
A richly researched book that tells the remarkable story of a 19th century author, journalist, critic and pioneering advocate of women's rights who died in a shipwreck.
Biography
Finalists
Nominated as finalists in Biography in 2014:
Jonathan Sperber
An impressively researched work that provides a fresh perspective on Marx and his ideas by placing him in the social and intellectual swirl of the 1800s.
The Jury
The Jury
Christopher Benfey(Chair )
Mellon Professor of English
Nicholas Dawidoff
writer
Annette Gordon-Reed*
Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History
Winners in Biography
Tom Reiss
A compelling story of a forgotten swashbuckling hero of mixed race whose bold exploits were captured by his son, Alexander Dumas, in famous 19th century novels.
John Lewis Gaddis
An engaging portrait of a globetrotting diplomat whose complicated life was interwoven with the Cold War and America's emergence as the world's dominant power.
Ron Chernow
A sweeping, authoritative portrait of an iconic leader learning to master his private feelings in order to fulfill his public duties.
T.J. Stiles
A penetrating portrait of a complex, self-made titan who revolutionized transportation, amassed vast wealth and shaped the economic world in ways still felt today.
2014 Prize Winners
Donna Tartt
A beautifully written coming-of-age novel with exquisitely drawn characters that follows a grieving boy's entanglement with a small famous painting that has eluded destruction, a book that stimulates the mind and touches the heart.
Annie Baker
A thoughtful drama with well-crafted characters that focuses on three employees of a Massachusetts art-house movie theater, rendering lives rarely seen on the stage.
Alan Taylor
A meticulous and insightful account of why runaway slaves in the colonial era were drawn to the British side as potential liberators.
Megan Marshall
A richly researched book that tells the remarkable story of a 19th century author, journalist, critic and pioneering advocate of women's rights who died in a shipwreck.