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Board lander photo
Board lander photo caption

front row left to right: N. Carroll, J. Díaz, R. Blau, S. Hahn, D. Canedy, G. Collins, N. Barnes; back row left to right: J. Daniszewski, N. Brown, E. Alexander, K. Boo, E. Robinson, E. Ramshaw, A. Marqués, S. Engelberg, T. Shelby (absent: L. Bollinger, S. Coll) (Photo by Jose R. Lopez)

Board Lander Sub Title
Robert Blau and Steven Hahn, co-chairs; Dana Canedy, administrator

Max Boot

Publication
The Road Not Taken: Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam
Citation
A nuanced portrait of CIA operative and foreign policy expert Edward Lansdale that adroitly captures his complex character, misunderstood legacy and the contradictions of his times.
Publisher
Liveright/W.W. Norton
Tags: 2019
Categories: Biography

Victoria Johnson

Publication
American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic
Citation
A beautiful restoration of the world of botanist and surgeon Dr. David Hosack whose forward-looking views embodied early American ambitions in transatlantic scientific discourse.

Publisher
Liveright/W.W. Norton
Tags: 2019
Categories: History

W. Fitzhugh Brundage

Publication
Civilizing Torture: An American Tradition
Citation
A morally engaging investigation of torture that measures American ideals of democracy and equality against a dark, uncomfortable reality.
Publisher
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
Tags: 2019
Categories: History

David W. Blight

Citation
A breathtaking history that demonstrates the scope of Frederick Douglass’ influence through deep research on his writings, his intellectual evolution and his relationships.
Tags: 2019
Categories: History
Publisher
Simon & Schuster
Publication
Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

Richard Powers

Citation
An ingeniously structured narrative that branches and canopies like the trees at the core of the story whose wonder and connectivity echo those of the humans living amongst them.
Tags: 2019
Categories: Fiction
Publisher
W.W. Norton
Publication
The Overstory

Tommy Orange

Publication
There There
Citation
A compassionate debut that, through 12 Native American narrators making their way to a California powwow, offers a chorus of voices struggling with questions of identity and authenticity.
Publisher
Alfred A. Knopf
Tags: 2019
Categories: Fiction

Rebecca Makkai

Publication
The Great Believers
Citation
An artful novel that chronicles a mother’s search for her estranged daughter against the backdrop of the AIDS crisis, and contemplates the ripples of grief affecting generations of survivors.
Publisher
Viking
Tags: 2019
Categories: Fiction

Staff of The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.

Citation
For a damning portrayal of the state’s discriminatory conviction system, including a Jim Crow-era law, that enabled Louisiana courts to send defendants to jail without jury consensus on the accused’s guilt.
Tags: 2019
Categories: Local Reporting

Staff of Associated Press

Citation
For authoritative coverage of the Trump administration’s migrant family separation policy that exposed a federal government overwhelmed by the logistics of caring for and tracking thousands of immigrant children.
Tags: 2019
Categories: National Reporting
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