Select Pulitzer Prize winners (and finalists) are shown below with publication dates. Pulitzer awards are usually for the following year. Most, but not all, of these books were awarded a Pulitzer in the “Biography or Autobiography” category.
Blue titles indicate Pulitzer Prize WINNERS. Blue italicized titles indicate Pulitzer Prize finalists. This list was updated August 2, 2017.
| Custer | Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles | 2015 | |
| Stalin | Stalin: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928 (Vol 1) by Stephen Kotkin | 2014 | |
| Marx, Karl | Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life by Jonathan Sperber | 2013 | |
| Dumas, Alex | The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss | 2012 | |
| Kennedy, Joseph P | The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw | 2012 | |
| Washington, George | Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow | 2010 | REVIEW (5 stars) |
| Lincoln, Abraham | The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner | 2010 | REVIEW (not rated) |
| Vanderbilt, Cornelius | The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles | 2009 | |
| Wilson, Woodrow | Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John Milton Cooper | 2009 | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Jackson, Andrew | American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham | 2008 | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Roosevelt, Franklin | Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of FDR by H. W. Brands | 2008 | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| Carnegie, Andrew | Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw | 2006 | |
| Newton, Isaac | Isaac Newton by James Gleick | 2003 | |
| Beethoven | Beethoven: The Music and the Life by Lewis Lockwood | 2002 | |
| Adams, John | John Adams by David McCullough | 2001 | REVIEW (4½ stars) |
| Grant, Ulysses | Grant by Jean Edward Smith | 2001 | REVIEW (4½ stars) |
| Bach, Johann | Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician by Christoph Wolff | 2001 | |
| Franklin, Benjamin | The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin by HW Brands | 2000 | |
| Johnson, Lyndon | Master of the Senate (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume III) by Robert Caro | 1999 | |
| Lindbergh, Charles | Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg | 1998 | |
| Mozart | Mozart: A Life by Maynard Solomon | 1995 | |
| Roosevelt, Franklin | No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by Doris Kearns Goodwin | 1994 | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| Genet, Jean | Genet: A Biography by Edmund White | 1993 | |
| Truman, Harry | Truman by David McCullough | 1992 | REVIEW (4½ stars) |
| Feynman, Richard | Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by James Gleick | 1992 | |
| Kissinger, Henry | Kissinger: A Biography by Walter Isaacson | 1992 | |
| Roosevelt, Franklin | A First Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt 1905-1928 by Geoffrey Ward | 1989 | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| Hemingway, Ernest | Hemingway by Kenneth S. Lynn | 1987 | |
| Adams, John Quincy | The Life and Times of Congressman John Quincy Adams by Leonard L. Richards | 1986 | |
| Grant, Ulysses | Grant: A Biography by William McFeely | 1981 | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Roosevelt, Theodore | Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough | 1981 | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Peter the Great | Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert Massie | 1981 | |
| Roosevelt, Theodore | The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (Vol I) by Edmund Morris | 1980 | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| Jefferson, Thomas | Jefferson the President: 2nd Term (Vol 5) by Dumas Malone | 1974 | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Moses, Robert | The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert Caro | 1974 | Third-party reviews |
| Roosevelt, Franklin | Eleanor & Franklin by Joseph Lash | 1971 | REVIEW (3½ stars) |
| Roosevelt, Franklin | Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom 1940-1945 by James MacGregor Burns | 1970 | REVIEW (3½ stars) |
| Twain, Mark | Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain by Justin Kaplan | 1966 | |
| Kennedy, John F | A Thousand Days: JFK in the White House by Arthur Schlesinger Jr. | 1965 | REVIEW (3 stars) |
| McKinley, William | In the Days of McKinley by Margaret Leech | 1959 | REVIEW (3¼ stars) |
| Wilson, Woodrow | Woodrow Wilson: American Prophet and World Prophet by Arthur Walworth | 1958 | REVIEW (3 stars) |
| Washington, George | Washington [Harwell’s abridgment] by Douglas Southall Freeman | 1957 | |
| Lindbergh, Charles | The Spirit of St Louis by Charles Lindbergh | 1953 | |
| Roosevelt, Franklin | Roosevelt and Hopkins: An Intimate History by Robert Sherwood | 1948 | REVIEW (3¼ stars) |
| Jackson, Andrew | The Age of Jackson by Arthur Schlesinger | 1945 | REVIEW (3¼ stars) |
| Columbus, Christopher | Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus by Samuel Eliot Morison | 1942 | |
| Lincoln, Abraham | Abraham Lincoln: The War Years by Carl Sandburg | 1939 | REVIEW (3 stars) |
| Franklin, Benjamin | Benjamin Franklin by Carl Van Doren | 1938 | |
| Jackson, Andrew | The Life of Andrew Jackson by Marquis James | 1938 | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Lee, Robert E | Lee by Richard Harwell | 1997 | |
| Cleveland, Grover | Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage by Allan Nevins | 1932 | REVIEW (3½ stars) |
| Roosevelt, Theodore | Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography by Henry Pringle | 1931 | REVIEW (3 stars) |
| Houston, Sam | The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston by Marquis James | 1929 | |
Every book I review has been purchased by me. TheBestBiographies.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Reading the Best Biographies of All Time 