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Health & Fitness

The Pulitzer Prize Reading List

April brings more than just showers—it brings the announcement of Pulitzer Prize winners.

April brings more than just showers—it brings the announcement of Pulitzer Prize winners. What better way is there to celebrate than by learning about the awards’ history, and maybe even checking out a few past winners?

The Pulitzer Prizes are named after Joseph Pulitzer, a 19th-century newspaper publisher and visionary who stipulated in his will that a certain amount of money be set aside to fund prizes in literature and journalism. What’s more, Pulitzer established an advisory board with the power to eliminate or replace the original award categories in response to societal changes.

This was a prescient move, and the awards have changed significantly since the first ceremony in 1917. Poetry, for example, did not become eligible for a Pulitzer until 1922. More recently, the board has begun to recognize the contributions of online journalists; by 2009, online-only news organizations had become eligible for any of 14 prizes in journalism.

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This year, the board chose not to award a Pulitzer for fiction. The decision has generated controversy, but it isn’t unprecedented; Pulitzer himself granted the board this power in cases where the members felt that none of the submissions quite met the Pulitzers’ rigorous standards. On the bright side, though, this is the perfect opportunity to catch up on some of the previous winners in fiction, nonfiction, drama, and poetry.

A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, by Samantha Power

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There’s no getting around the fact that this is a grim read, but it’s also an important one that will permanently change the way you perceive current events. If it’s true that those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it, this should be required reading.

Doubt: A Parable, by John Patrick Shanley

You may have already seen the movie adaptation of this story of guilt, innocence, and all the murkiness that lies between them, so why not read the play it’s based on? The subject matter—sexual abuse within the Church—is timely, but you may be surprised at the way Shanley treats it; as the title implies, very few things about this play are open-and-shut.

March, by Geraldine Brooks

If you enjoy either historical fiction or spin-offs of classic novels, this is a must-read. March recounts the wartime experiences of the absent father in Little Women with a grittiness that is the perfect counterpoint to Alcott’s more idealistic tone. 

The Best of It: New and Selected Poems, by Kay Ryan

You don’t need to be a poetry fan to enjoy Ryan’s verse. Ryan’s poems are short, yet she somehow manages to tease out every ounce of beauty and meaning with extraordinary clarity and precision.

The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time, by Jonathan Weiner

Those with even a passing interest in science shouldn’t miss this. Weiner shows that what we normally think of as the “finished products” of evolution are actually in constant flux; the world is a much more dynamic and exciting place after reading this book.

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