Books on conservatism and rural whites up for Lukas Prize

NEW YORK – Jane Mayer’s “Dark Money” and Zachary Roth’s “The Great Suppression” are among several works about the modern conservative movement and rural whites that are on the short list for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize.

Other nominees announced Tuesday are Arlie Russell Hochschild’s “Strangers in Their Own Land,” Nancy Isenberg’s “White Trash” and Gary Younge’s “Another Day in the Death of America.” The $10,000 prize is named for the late investigative journalist whose books included the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Common Ground.” The award is co-administered by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University and is given for literary excellence and “social concern.”

Columbia’s journalism school and the Nieman Foundation also announced short lists for outstanding history books, for which one of the nominees is Hochschild’s husband Adam Hochschild, and best works-in-progress.

The Lukas Work-In-Progress Award is a $25,000 honour given to aid in the “completion of a significant work of nonfiction on an American topic of political or social concern.” The nominees are Christopher Leonard’s “Kochland,” Marie Mutsuki Mockett’s “A Kernel in God’s Eye,” Eyal Press’ “Dirty Work,” Richard Steven Street’s “Knife Fight City and the “Kingdom of Dust” and Helen Thorpe’s “The Newcomers.”

Nominees for the Mark Lynton History Prize, a $10,000 award, are Tyler Anbinder’s “City of Dreams,” Adam Hochschild’s “Spain in Our Hearts,” Ethan Michaeli’s “The Defender,” Joan Quigley’s “Just Another Southern Town” and David Reid’s “The Brazen Age.”

Winners will be announced March 27. The prizes were established in 1998 and previous winners include Robert Caro, Jeffrey Toobin and Isabel Wilkerson.

____

Lukas Awards website: https://journalism.columbia.edu/lukas