In history, David Hackett Fischer's Washington's Crossing wins the prize. The worthy runners-up were: Kevin Boyle's Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age and Michael O'Brien's Conjectures of Order: Intellectual Life and the American South, 1810-1860 volumes 1 & 2.

In biography, Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan's de Kooning: An American Master is the winner. The other finalists were: Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare and William Souder's Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the Making of The Birds of America.

In general non-fiction, Steve Coll's Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 won the award. The other finalists were: Suketu Mehta's Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found and Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway: A True Story.

In fiction, Marilynne Robinson's Gilead is the winner. The other finalists in fiction were: Ha Jin's War Trash and Ward Just's An Unfinished Season.

Ralph E. Luker - 4/4/2005

Right. I hope that you'll post something about it. I'm reading it now, myself, and have in mind writing something about it for Cliopatria.

Caleb McDaniel - 4/4/2005

It's such a pleasure to watch Gilead sweep this awards season in fiction, because it richly deserves every accolade it gets.