G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century by Beverly Gage (Viking) has won the $50,000 New-York Historical Society's Barbara and David Zalaznick Book Prize in American History, which recognizes "the best book of the year in the field of American history or biography."
Organizers said that G-Man "draws from never-before-seen sources to create a groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today's conservative political landscape. The book explores the full sweep of Hoover's life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family through his death in 1972. Gage shows how Hoover was more than a one-dimensional tyrant and schemer who strong-armed the rest of the country into submission. G-Man places Hoover back where he once stood in American political history--not at the fringes but at the center--and uses his story to explain the trajectories of governance, policing, race, ideology, political culture, and federal power as they evolved over the course of the 20th century."
Dr. Agnes Hsu-Tang, chair of the Society's board of trustees, compared reading G-Man with "viewing a chiaroscuro masterpiece painting. Gage deftly illuminates one of the most complicated personalities in modern American history through descriptive gradations of light and shadow--creating a full-fleshed portrait of complexity and gravitas."
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Finalists have been selected for the New York Public Library's Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism, recognizing "non-fiction books penned by working journalists that bring attention and transparency to current events or societal issues of global or national significance." The winner, who receives $15,000, will be announced in May.
The finalists:
The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World by Max Fisher (Little, Brown)
My Fourth Time We Drowned: Seeking Refuge on the World's Deadliest Migration Route by Sally Hayden (Melville House)
The Other Side of Prospect: A Story of Violence, Injustice, and the American City by Nicholas Dawidoff (Norton)
The Treeline: The Last Forest and the Future of Life on Earth by Ben Rawlence (St. Martin's Press)
Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of our Nation by Linda Villarosa (Doubleday)