#LukasPrizes  

Susan  Southard,  Nikolaus  Wachsmann  and  Steve  Luxenberg  Named  Winners  of  the  2016  J.  Anthony  Lukas  Prize  Project  Awards  

Columbia   Journalism   School   and   the   Nieman   Foundation   for   Journalism   at   Harvard  University   are   pleased   to   announce   the   three   winners   and   the   three   finalists   of   the  2016  Lukas  Prize  Project  Awards.    

Susan   Southard,  an  author  and  theater  director,  has  won  the  J.  Anthony  Lukas  Book  Prize   for   her   unflinching   historical   narrative   of   the   bombing   of   Nagasaki   and   the  aftermath  as   told   through   the   lives  of   those  who   survived   it   -­‐   “NAGASAKI:   Life  After  Nuclear   War”   (Viking   Penguin).     Nikolaus   Wachsmann,   a   professor   of   modern  European   history   at   Birkbeck   College,   London   and   an   award-­‐winning   author,   will  receive   the   Mark   Lynton   History   Prize   for   his   definitive   history   of   the   German  concentration  camp  system  -­‐  “KL:  A  History  of  the  Nazi  Concentration  Camps”  (Farrar,  Straus  and  Giroux).  Steve  Luxenberg,  an  associate  editor  at  The  Washington  Post  (on  leave)  and  author,  has  won  the  J.  Anthony  Lukas  Work-­‐in-­‐Progress  Award  for  his  book  about   the   infamous   Supreme   Court   case   Plessy   v.   Ferguson   that   gave   rise   to   half   a  century  of  racial  discrimination  -­‐    “SEPARATE:  A  Story  of  Race,  Ambition  and  the  Battle  That  Brought  Legal  Segregation  to  America”  (W.W.  Norton).    

Reporter  Dale  Russakoff  is  the  finalist  for  the  Lukas  Book  Prize  for  “THE  PRIZE:  Who’s  in  Charge  of  America’s  Schools?”  (Houghton  Mifflin  Harcourt),  which  the  judges  called  “a   searing   portrait   of   the   enormous   challenges   of   ‘saving   our   schools.’’’   Timothy  Snyder,  a  professor  of  history  at  Yale  University  and  an  award-­‐winning  author,  is  the  finalist  for  the  Lynton  History  Prize  for  “BLACK  EARTH:  The  Holocaust  as  History  and  Warning”   (Tim  Duggan  Books),  which   the   judges   cited   for   its   “bold  provocative  new  approach  to  the  Holocaust.”   Journalist  and  editor  Blaire  Briody   is   the  finalist   for  the  Lukas   Work-­‐in-­‐Progress   Award   for   her   work   “THE   NEW   WILD   WEST:   Black   Gold,  Fracking,   and   Life   in   a   North   Dakota   Boomtown”   (St.   Martin’s   Press),   a   first-­‐hand  account  of  the  impact  of  the  fracking  boom  on  a  small  town  that  the  judges  called  “hard  hitting  and  unblinking.”  

The  awards  will  be  presented  to  the  winners  and  finalists  at  a  ceremony  on  Tuesday,  May  10,  2016  at  the  Nieman  Foundation  for  Journalism  at  Harvard  University.    

 The   J.  Anthony  Lukas  Book  Prize  recognizes  superb  examples  of  nonfiction  writing  that  exemplify   the   literary  grace,   the  commitment   to   serious   research,  and   the  social  concern  that  characterized  the  distinguished  work  of  the  award's  namesake,  J.  Anthony  Lukas.    Books  must  be  on  a  topic  of  American  political  or  social  concern  and  must  have  been  published  between  January  1,  2015,  and  December  31,  2015.  The  winner  receives  $10,000.   Judges   this   year:  Mark   Kurlansky   (chair),   Charlie   Conrad,   Jonathan  Mahler,  Judy  Pasternak.      Winner:  Susan  Southard’s  NAGASAKI:  Life  After  Nuclear  War  (Viking  Penguin)  

 Bio:  Susan  Southard  holds  an  MFA  in  creative  writing  from  Antioch  University,  Los  Angeles,  and  was  a  nonfiction  fellow  at   the   Norman   Mailer   Center   in   Provincetown,   Mass.  “NAGASAKI”  was  a  finalist  for  the  J.  Anthony  Lukas  Work-­‐In-­‐Progress   Award   in   2012.   Southard   lives   in   Tempe,   Ariz.,  where   she   is   the   founder   and   artistic   director   of   Essential  Theatre.    

 Judges’   Citation:   Susan   Southard’s  “NAGASAKI:   Life   After  Nuclear  War”  will  upset  you.  With  lean  and  powerful  prose  she   describes   the   indescribable   taking   the   reader   almost  minute   by   minute   through   the   bombing   of   Nagasaki   and  

then  the  aftermath.  With  thorough  careful  research  she  exposes  a  half-­‐century  of   lies  and  half-­‐truths  about  the  reasons   for   the  bombing  and  the  results,  even  denying  that  radiation  poisoning  was  real.      Seventy  years  later,  following  the  lives  of  survivors,  she  reaches   the   final   chapter   and   at   last   tells   the   complete   story.   Without   diatribes   or  polemics   she   leaves   the   reader  with   a   resolve   that   such   a   thing  must   never   happen  again.    

 Finalist:   Dale   Russakoff’s   THE   PRIZE:   Who’s   in   Charge   of   America’s   Schools?  (Houghton  Mifflin  Harcourt)  

 Bio:   Dale   Russakoff   spent   28   years   as   a   reporter   for   The  Washington  Post,   covering   politics,   education,   social   policy,  and   other   topics.   From   1994   to   2008,   she   served   in   the  Post’s   New  York   Bureau,  which   included   covering   the  NYC  metropolitan  area,  including  Newark,  N.J.  Russakoff  grew  up  in  Birmingham,  Ala.  “THE  PRIZE”  is  her  first  book.  She  lives  in  Montclair,  N.J.    

 Judges’   Citation:   In  “THE   PRIZE:    Who’s   in   Charge   of  America’s   Schools?”  journalist   Dale   Russakoff   powerfully  exposes   how   good   intentions   go   terribly   awry   after   Mark  Zuckerberg   and   his   wife   pledge   $100   million   to   Newark’s  

distressed  public  schools.    Russakoff’s  engrossing  inside  account  of  the  convergence  of  celebrity   politicians,   a   billionaire   philanthropist,   and   an   economically   deprived  

community  –  and  of   students  and   teachers  struggling  with  urban  poverty  –   is  both  a  searing   portrait   of   the   enormous   challenges   of   “saving   our   schools”   and   a   masterly  work  of  investigative  reporting.      The   Mark   Lynton   History   Prize   is   awarded   to   the   book-­‐length   work   of   narrative  history,   on   any   subject,   that   best   combines   intellectual   distinction   with   felicity   of  expression.  Books  must  have  been  published  between  January  1,  2015,  and  December  31,  2015.  The  winner  receives  $10,000.  Judges:  William  Shinker  (chair),  Lynne  Olson,  Sylvia  Nasar.      Winner:  Nikolaus  Wachsmann’s  KL:  A  History  of   the  Nazi  Concentration  Camps  (Farrar,  Straus  and  Giroux)  

 Bio:   Nikolaus   Wachsmann   is   a   professor   of   modern  European  history  at  Birkbeck  College,  University  of  London.  He   is   the  author  of   the  prize-­‐winning  “Hitler’s  Prisons”  and  joint  editor  of   “Concentration  Camps   in  Nazi  Germany:  The  New  Histories.”  

 Judges’   Citation:   A   staggering   feat   of   research,   synthesis  and   narrative   writing,  “KL:   A   History   of   the   Nazi  Concentration   Camps”  by   Nikolaus   Wachsmann   is   the  definitive  account  of  a  diabolical  institution  that  evolved  and  expanded   as   the   Nazis   immediate   objectives   changed.  Drawing  on  archives   in  virtually  every  country  occupied  by  

the  Third  Reich  as  well  as  Germany  itself,  Wachsmann  challenges  the  popular  image  of  the   concentration   camp   and   the  Holocaust   as   one   and   the   same:    In   1933   the   “KL”’s  purpose  was  intimidation,  not  killing,  and  it  was  1943  before  the  concentration  camp  became  an  integral  part  of  the  Final  Solution.  Most  of  the  Jews  murdered  by  the  Nazis  never  became  inmates  because  they  were  either  shot  elsewhere  or  sent  straight  to  gas  chambers.   The   majority   of   prisoners   who   perished   in   a   concentration   camp—from  communists,   “incurables”   and   gays   to   conquered   Poles   and   Soviet   POWs—were   not  Jews.   Wachsmann’s   greatest   achievement   is   to   make   the   inconceivable   palpable.  Drawing  on   thousands  of  Nazi   records  and   first-­‐person  accounts,  he   lets   the  victims,  and   sometimes   their   victimizers,   describe   in   their   own   words   scene   after   scene   of  unimaginable  suffering.  Rarely  has  anyone  combined  history  from  above  with  history  from  below  to  such  powerful  effect.                      

Finalist:  Timothy  Snyder’s  BLACK  EARTH:  The  Holocaust  as  History  and  Warning  (Tim  Duggan  Books)  

 Bio:  Timothy  Snyder  is  the  Housum  Professor  of  History  at  Yale  University  and  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Conscience  of  the  United  States  Holocaust  Memorial  Museum.  He  is  the  author  of  “Bloodlands:  Europe  Between  Hitler  and  Stalin,”  which  received  the   literature   award   of   the   American   Academy   of   Arts   and  Letters,  the  Hannah  Arendt  Prize,  and  the  Leipzig  Book  Prize  for  European   Understanding.   Snyder   is   a   frequent   contributor   to  The   New   York   Review   of   Books   and   the   Times   Literary  Supplement.  He  is  a  permanent  fellow  of  the  Institute  for  Human  Sciences,  serves  as  the  faculty  advisor  for  the  Fortunoff  Archive  for  Holocaust   Testimonies,   and   sits   on   the   advisory   council   of  the  YIVO  Institute   for   Jewish  Research.  He   lives   in  New  Haven,  Conn.    

 Judges’   Citation:   In   this   bold,   provocative   new   approach   to   the  Holocaust,   Timothy  Snyder  takes  the  focus  off  death  camps  like  Auschwitz  to  explore  the  Germans’  lesser-­‐known,   earlier   mass   murder   of   millions   of   Jews   in   occupied   Poland   and   the   Soviet  Union.   By   doing   so,   Snyder   brilliantly   illustrates   how   the   Germans’   wholesale  destruction  of  political,  legal,  and  social  institutions  in  these  areas  facilitated  the  killing  of  virtually  their  entire  Jewish  populations.  By  contrast,  in  German-­‐occupied  countries  that   retained   their   statehood,   many   if   not   most   Jews   survived.   Snyder’s   powerful  argument  —  that  destroying  or  lessening  the  role  of  government  institutions  opens  the  door  to  chaos  and  violence  —  has  profound,  unsettling  ramifications  for  our  time.      The   J.   Anthony   Lukas   Work-­in-­Progress   Award   is   given   annually   to   aid   in   the  completion  of  a  significant  work  of  nonfiction  on  an  American  topic  of  political  or  social  concern.  The  winner  receives  $30,000.  The  committee  envisions  the  award  as  a  way  of  closing   the  gap  between   the   time  and  money  an  author  has  and   the   time  and  money  that  finishing  a  book  requires.  Judges  this  year:  John  Duff,  John  Ryden,  Bill  Strachan.    Winner:  Steve  Luxenberg’s  SEPARATE:  A  Story  of  Race,  Ambition  and  the  Battle  That  Brought  Legal  Segregation  to  America    (W.W.  Norton)  

 Bio:  Steve  Luxenberg   is  an  associate  editor  at  The  Washington  Post  (on  leave)  and  author  of  the  award-­‐winning  “Annie’s  Ghosts:  A  Journey  Into  a  Family  Secret.”    

 Judges’  Citation:   “SEPARATE”  is  the  little-­‐known  story  behind  Plessy  v.  Ferguson,   the   infamous   Supreme   Court   case   that   made   “separate   but  equal”   the   law   of   the   land   and   gave   judicial   cover   to   a   half   century   of  racial   discrimination.   Generations   of   scholars   have   studied   the   ruling  

that  upheld  an  1890  Louisiana   law  that  mandated  separate  railroad  cars   for  “whites”  and   “coloreds.”   Steve   Luxenberg's   interwoven   narrative   takes   the   story   in   a   new  direction,   providing   illuminating   answers   to   fundamental   questions:   How   did   it  happen?  What  was  it  about  the  time  that  explains  Plessy?  What  were  the  players  in  this  

landmark  case  up  to?  Why  did  Homer  Plessy,  a  fair-­‐skinned  Creole  from  New  Orleans  enter  a  “whites-­‐only”  railroad  car  so  he  could  be  arrested  –  as  planned?  How  could  a  Court   with   seven   Northern   justices   come   to   such   an   unjust   decision?   How   could  separate  ever  be  thought  equal?  Luxenberg  finds  answers  by  looking  long  and  hard  at  the  lives  and  beliefs  of  those  who  were  swept  up  in  this  landmark  case,  beginning  with  the   three   main   characters:   Justice   Henry   Billings,   who   wrote   the   majority   opinion;  Justice  John  Marshall  Harlan,  one  of  two  Southerners  on  the  Court,  who  wrote  the  lone  dissent;   and   white   civil   rights   advocate   Albion   Tourgée,   who   designed   the   legal  strategy  for  Plessy.  Their  story  and  the  parts  played  by  a  large  supporting  cast  are  the  heart  of  “Separate,”  this  rich,  complex,  and  all  too  human  story,  replete  with  ironies  and  unintended  consequences.  This  is  “big  history,”  deeply  researched,  and  well  told.      Finalist:  Blaire  Briody’s  THE  NEW  WILD  WEST:  Black  Gold,  Fracking  and  Life  in  a  North  Dakota  Boomtown  (St.  Martin’s  Press)  

 Bio:  Blaire  Briody  is  an  award-­‐winning  journalist  and  editor-­‐at-­‐large  for  The  Fiscal  Times.  She  has  written  for  The  New  York  Times,  Popular  Science,  Popular   Mechanics,  Fast   Company,  and   Glamour,   among  others.  She’s   currently   working   on   a   nonfiction   book   about   the   oil  boom  in  North  Dakota,  and  received  the  Richard  J.  Margolis  Award  in  2014.   She   graduated   from   the   University   of   California,   Davis  with   a  degree  in  international  relations.  

 Judges’  Citation:  Blaire  Briody’s  first-­‐hand  account  of  the  impact  of  the  fracking  boom  on  a  small  Midwestern  town  is  good  old-­‐fashioned  journalism  at  its  best,  hard-­‐hitting  and   unblinking.   “Embedded”   in   oil   country   for  months   at   a   time,   she   reports   on   the  transformation  of  the  town,  its  Native  American  neighbors,  and  the  landscape  –  on  the  farmers   who   watched   fields   they’d   worked   for   generations   plowed   up,   on   the  thousands   of   workers,   mostly   men,   holed   up   in   dismal   camps.   She   documents   the  lawlessness,   the   prostitution   and   the   violence   toward  women   that   followed   in   their  wake.  It’s  a  21st  century  reenactment  of  a  story  that  was  all-­‐too  familiar  to  19th  century  America.  And  Briody   is  doing   the  nation  a  service  by   telling   it   like   it   is.   She  needs   to  finish  the  job.      About  the  Prizes:  Established  in  1998,  the  Lukas  Prize  Project  honors  the  best  in  American  nonfiction  writing.    Co-­‐administered  by  the  Columbia  University  Graduate  School  of  Journalism  and  the  Nieman  Foundation  at  Harvard  University,  and  sponsored  by  the  family  of  the  late  Mark  Lynton,  a  historian  and  senior  executive  at  the  firm  Hunter  Douglas  in  the  Netherlands,  the  Lukas  Prize  Project  presents  three  awards  annually.                  

   About  Columbia  Journalism  School    The  Columbia  University  Graduate  School  of  Journalism  trains  journalists  in  a  program  that  stresses  academic  rigor,  ethics,  inquiry  and  professional  practice.  Founded  with  a  gift  from  Joseph  Pulitzer,  the  School  opened  its  doors  in  1912  and  offers  master  of  science,  master  of  arts,  and  doctor  of  philosophy  degrees.  www.journalism.columbia.edu      

   About  the  Nieman  Foundation  for  Journalism  at  Harvard    The  Nieman  Foundation  for  Journalism  at  Harvard  educates  leaders  in  journalism  and  elevates  the  standards  of  the  profession  through  special  programs  that  convene  scholars  and  experts  in  all  fields.  More  than  1,500  journalists  from  93  countries  have  been  awarded  Nieman  Fellowships  since  1938.  The  foundation’s  other  initiatives  include  Nieman  Reports,  a  quarterly  print  and  online  magazine  that  covers  thought  leadership  in  journalism;  Nieman  Journalism  Lab,  a  website  that  reports  on  the  future  of  news,  innovation  and  best  practices  in  the  digital  media  age;  and  Nieman  Storyboard,  a  website  that  showcases  exceptional  narrative  journalism  and  explores  the  future  of  nonfiction  storytelling.  www.nieman.harvard.edu        For  more  information,  please  contact:    Beth  Parker  Beth  Parker  PR  beth@bethparkerpr.com  |  914-­‐629-­‐9205    Caroline  L.  Martinet,  Program  Manager,  Professional  Prizes  Columbia  Journalism  School  cm3443@columbia.edu  |  212-­‐854-­‐6468    Follow  #LukasPrizes  Follow  Columbia  Journalism  School:  @columbiajourn  Follow  the  Nieman  Foundation:  @niemanfdn      ###