To Encourage Literary Distinction in the Writing of History and Biography
The Society of American Historians (SAH) was founded in 1939 by the journalist and Columbia University historian Allan Nevins and several fellow scholars to promote literary distinction in the writing of history and biography. Under a charter of incorporation issued by the State of New York, the society has continued to promote its original objective in a variety of ways: through the awarding of prizes, the promotion of historical studies and interests, and cooperation with publishers and other institutions engaged in furthering these aims.
The Society's membership includes more than 450 academic scholars, public historians, and professional writers working on topics in American history. Members are elected based on achievement in the vivid and compelling presentation of history and biography in a variety of forms, including books, essays, film, drama, museum exhibitions, and other emerging forms of public communication. The Society recognizes excellence in historical work marked, among other qualities, by clarity, empathy, narrative power, accuracy, and explanatory force.
We are delighted to announce this year’s prize winners and elected members, to be honored at our annual dinner on May 11, 2026.
The 7th annual Tony Horwitz Prize was awarded to Nell Irvin Painter (Edwards Professor of American History Emerita, Princeton University) in recognition of the wide appeal and enduring public significance of her work.
The 70th annual Francis Parkman Prize to honor literary merit in the writing of American History was awarded to Bench Ansfield (Assistant Professor of History, Temple University) for Born in Flames: The Business of Arson and the Remaking of the American City (W. W. Norton).
The 61st annual Allan Nevins Dissertation Prize in American History was awarded to Adelaide Mandeville (Harvard PhD, USC Society of Fellows) for "Changes in the Sky: The Rise and Fall of Weather Control in the Twentieth-Century United States."
The Nevins jury also recognized a finalist: Charlotte Hecht (Ph.D., Yale University) for her dissertation, “American Nuclear: A Convergent History of Landscape and Power.”
The Society has elected Craig Steven Wilder as its next President and Kelly Lytle Hernández as its next Vice-President; the Society also welcomes twenty new distinguished members: Stephen Berry, Daphne A. Brooks, Ava Chin, Matthew Connelly, Peter Cozzens, Ellen Fitzpatrick, Ian Frazier, Anne Hyde, Daniel Immerwahr, Robert Korstad, Kati Marton, John McGreevy, Margaret O’Mara, Annelise Orleck, Miriam Pawel, Russell Shorto, Marc Stein, Alexandra Minna Stern, James Tejani, and Ilyon Woo.