For a distinguished book of non-fiction by an American author that is not eligible for consideration in any other category, Five thousand dollars ($5,000).

Awarded to Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond (W.W. Norton)

Columbia University President George Rupp (left) presents Jared Diamond's Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction to W.W. Norton publisher William Drake McFeely.

Finalists

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster" by Jon Krakauer (Villard), and "How the Mind Works" by Steven Pinker (W. W. Norton).