Jon Meacham Wins Biography Pulitzer!

NEWSWEEK Editor Jon Meacham won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography on Monday afternoon for "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House." Click here to read an excerpt, or here to download his interview with NEWSWEEK ON AIR about the book, which was selected by the New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of 2008. While Meacham was in his home state of Tennessee, Newsweek Managing Director and Washington Post Co. Vice President Ann McDaniel, had this to say:

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Jon Meacham has won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for biography for his best-selling book "American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House." The Pulitzer Board described Jon's book as "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."

You can read an excerpt from Meacham's award-winning book here, and you can read his Newsweek columns, cover stories and essays here.

The other arts winners are as follows, per the Associated Press's full list:

  • Fiction: "Olive Kitteridge" by Elizabeth Strout
  • Drama: "Ruined" by Lynn Nottage
  • History: "The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family" by Annette Gordon-Reed
  • Poetry: "The Shadow of Sirius" by W. S. Merwin
  • General Nonfiction: "Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II" by Douglas A. Blackmon
  • Music: Double Sextet by Steve Reich, premiered March 26, 2008 in Richmond, VA (Boosey & Hawkes)

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

About the writer


To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek magazine delivered to your door
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go
Newsweek cover
  • Newsweek Voices: Diverse audio opinions
  • Enjoy ad-free browsing on Newsweek.com
  • Comment on articles
  • Newsweek app updates on-the-go