Donald Snags Pulitzer For Wolfe Biography

A Harvard history professor last week won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for biography.

The highly acclaimed biography "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe" earned David H. Donald, Warren Professor of American History, his second Pulitzer Prize.

Donald's Pulitzer also marks the second time in two years that a senior Harvard history professor has won the prestigious prize, which is awarded annually for excellence in journalism, fiction and non-fiction. Adams University Professor Bernard Bailyn last year won his second Pulitzer in the history category for "Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution."

A native Mississippian, Donald specializes in the Civil War and Reconstruction eras and has been at Harvard since 1973. He won his first Pulitzer Prize in 1961 for his work "Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War."

Donald said the Wolfe biography challenged him because Wolfe, a literary figure from the early 20 the century, fell outside of his period of expertise.

"It's very exciting and very rewarding because it's for a biography which is not in my usual line of work," Donald said about receiving the award.

Donald examined more than three million pages of documents, many from Houghton Library's extensive collection of Wolfe's papers, before writing the book.

`Unusual'

It's particularly rewarding because it is something that is unusual," Donald said. "It goes to show that a good biographer can range over a long period of time."

Donald, a former chairman of the graduate program in the History of American Civilization, said he enjoyed a "mild celebration" upon receiving word of the award. He also received gifts of champagne and roses from his publishers.

As for the possibility of winning the award again, Donald said, "I think I can make room for another."