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Society of American Historians

Society of American Historians

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    • Tony Horwitz Prize
    • Francis Parkman Prize
    • Allan Nevins Prize
    • Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Prize
    • SAH Prize for Historical Fiction (formerly the James Fenimore Cooper Prize)
    • Bruce Catton Prize
    • Francis Parkman Prize for Special Achievement
    • How to Submit
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Prizes

  • Tony Horwitz Prize
  • Francis Parkman Prize
  • Allan Nevins Prize
  • Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Prize
  • SAH Prize for Historical Fiction (formerly the James Fenimore Cooper Prize)
  • Bruce Catton Prize
  • Francis Parkman Prize for Special Achievement
  • How to Submit

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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