Columbia University in the City of New York

Society of American Historians

Society of American Historians Prize for Historical Fiction (formerly known as the James Fenimore Cooper Prize)

The SAH Prize for Historical Fiction is awarded biennially in odd-numbered years for a book of historical fiction on an American subject that makes a significant contribution to historical understanding, portrays authentically the people and events of the historical past, and displays skills in narrative construction and prose style. The prize carries an award of $2000.

2023 Jane Smiley, A Dangerous Business (Alfred A. Knopf)
2021 Afia Atakora, Conjure Women (Random House)
2019 Tommy Orange, There There (Alfred A. Knopf)
2017 No prize awarded
2015 Jacinda Townsend, Saint Monkey (W.W. Norton)
2013 Stephen Harrigan, Remember Ben Clayton (Alfred A. Knopf)
2011 Karl Marlantes, Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2010)
2009 Nancy Horan, Loving Frank (Random House, 2008)
2007 Thomas Mullen, The Last Town on Earth, A Novel (Random House, 2006)
2005 Philip Roth, The Plot Against America (Houghton Mifflin, 2004)
2003 Kevin Baker, Paradise Alley (HarperCollins, 2002)
2001 Peter Matthiessen, Bone by Bone (Random House, 2000)
2001 Ward Just, A Dangerous Friend (Houghton Mifflin, 1999)
1999 Richard Powers, Gain (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998)
1997 John Edgar Wideman, The Cattle Killing (Houghton Mifflin, 1996)
1995 Tim O'Brien, In the Lake of the Woods (Houghton Mifflin, 1994)
1993 Noah Gordon, Shaman (Penguin/Dutton, 1992)

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Society of American Historians Prize for Historical Fiction (formerly known as the James Fenimore Cooper Prize)