For a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author, Ten thousand dollars ($10,000).

Awarded to American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin (Alfred A. Knopf)

Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger (left) presents Kai Bird (center) and Martin J. Sherwin with the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Biography.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion (Alfred A. Knopf), and "The Peabody Sisters: Three Women Who Ignited American Romanticism" by Megan Marshall (Houghton Mifflin).