For a distinguished biography or autobiography by an American author, three thousand dollars ($3,000).

Awarded to God: A Biography by Jack Miles (Alfred A. Knopf)

Jack Miles receives the 1996 Pulitzer Prize from Columbia President George Rupp.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "John Sloan: Painter and Rebel" by John Loughery (Henry Holt), and "Mozart: A Life" by Maynard Solomon (HarperCollins).