For years not listed, no award was made.
- 1917
- With Americans of Past and Present Days, J. J. Jusserand, Ambassador of France to United States
- 1918
- A History of the Civil War, 1861–1865, James Ford Rhodes
- 1920
- The War With Mexico, Justin H. Smith
- 1921
- The Victory at Sea, William Sowden Sims, in collaboration with Burton J. Hendrick
- 1922
- The Founding of New England, James Truslow Adams
- 1923
- The Supreme Court in United States History, Charles Warren
- 1924
- The American Revolution—A Constitutional Interpretation, Charles Howard McIlwain
- 1925
- A History of the American Frontier, Frederic L. Paxson
- 1926
- The History of the United States, Edward Channing
- 1927
- Pinckney's Treaty, Samuel Flagg Bemis
- 1928
- Main Currents in American Thought, Vernon Louis Parrington
- 1929
- The Organization and Administration of the Union Army, 1861–1865, Fred Albert Shannon
- 1930
- The War of Independence, Claude H. Van Tyne
- 1931
- The Coming of the War: 1914, Bernadotte E. Schmitt
- 1932
- My Experiences in the World War, John J.
Pershing
- 1933
- The Significance of Sections in American History, Frederick J. Turner
- 1934
- The People's Choice, Herbert Agar
- 1935
- The Colonial Period of American History, Charles McLean Andrews
- 1936
- The Constitutional History of the United States, Andrew C. McLaughlin
- 1937
- The Flowering of New England, Van Wyck Brooks
- 1938
- The Road to Reunion, 1865–1900, Paul Herman Buck
- 1939
- A History of American Magazines, Frank Luther Mott
- 1940
- Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, Carl
Sandburg
- 1941
- The Atlantic Migration, 1607–1860, Marcus Lee Hansen
- 1942
- Reveille in Washington, Margaret Leech
- 1943
- Paul Revere and the World He Lived In, Esther Forbes
- 1944
- The Growth of American Thought, Merle Curti
- 1945
- Unfinished Business, Stephen Bonsal
- 1946
- The Age of Jackson, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
- 1947
- Scientists Against Time, James Phinney Baxter, 3rd
- 1948
- Across the Wide Missouri, Bernard DeVoto
- 1949
- The Disruption of American Democracy, Roy Franklin Nichols
- 1950
- Art and Life in America, Oliver W. Larkin
- 1951
- The Old Northwest, Pioneer Period 1815–1840, R. Carlyle Buley
- 1952
- The Uprooted, Oscar Handlin
- 1953
- The Era of Good Feelings, George Dangerfield
- 1954
- A Stillness at Appomattox, Bruce Catton
- 1955
- Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History, Paul Horgan
- 1956
- The Age of Reform, Richard Hofstadter
- 1957
- Russia Leaves the War: Soviet–American Relations, 1917–1920, George F. Kennan
- 1958
- Banks and Politics in America: From the Revolution to the Civil War, Bray Hammond
- 1959
- The Republican Era: 1869–1901, Leonard D. White, assisted by Jean Schneider
- 1960
- In the Days of McKinley, Margaret Leech
- 1961
- Between War and Peace: The Potsdam Conference, Herbert Feis
- 1962
- The Triumphant Empire: Thunder-Clouds Gather in the West, Lawrence H. Gipson
- 1963
- Washington, Village and Capital, 1800–1878, Constance McLaughlin Green
- 1964
- Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town, Sumner Chilton Powell
- 1965
- The Greenback Era, Irwin Unger
- 1966
- Life of the Mind in America, Perry Miller
- 1967
- Exploration and Empire: The Explorer and Scientist in the Winning of the American West, William H. Goetzmann
- 1968
- The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution, Bernard Bailyn
- 1969
- Origins of the Fifth Amendment, Leonard W. Levy
- 1970
- Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department, Dean Acheson
- 1971
- Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, James McGregor Burns
- 1972
- Neither Black Nor White: Slavery and Race Relations in Brazil and the United States, Carl N. Degler
- 1973
- People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origin of American Civilization, Michael
Kammen
- 1974
- The Americans: The Democratic Experience, Vol. 3, Daniel J. Boorstin
- 1975
- Jefferson and His Time, Dumas Malone
- 1976
- Lamy of Santa Fe, Paul Horgan
- 1977
- The Impending Crisis: 1841-1861, David M. Potter
- 1978
- The Invisible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business, Alfred D. Chandler, Jr.
- 1979
- The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in Law and Politics, Don E. Fehrenbacher
- 1980
- Been in the Storm So Long, Leon F. Litwack
- 1981
- American Education: The National Experience; 1783-1876, Lawrence A. Cremin
- 1982
- Mary Chesnut's Civil War, C. Vann Woodward, editor
- 1983
- The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-1790, Rhys L. Isaac
- 1985
- The Prophets of Regulation, Thomas K. McCraw
- 1986
- The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age, Walter A. McDougall
- 1987
- Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution, Bernard Bailyn
- 1988
- The Launching of Modern American Science 1846-1876, Robert V. Bruce
- 1989
- Parting the Waters, Taylor Branch; Battle Cry of Freedom, James M. McPherson
- 1990
- In Our Image: America's Empire in the Philippines, Stanley Karnow
- 1991
- A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard, Based on Her Diary 1785-1812, Laurel Thatcher Ulrich
- 1992
- The Fate of Liberty: Abraham Lincoln and Civil Liberties, Mark E. Neely, Jr.
- 1993
- The Radicalism of the American Revolution, Gordon S. Wood
- 1995
- No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II, Doris Kearns Goodwin
- 1996
- William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic, Alan Taylor
- 1997
- Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution, Jack N. Rakove
- 1998
- Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, Edward J. Larson
- 1999
- Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace
- 2000
- Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, David M. Kennedy
- 2001
- Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, 1929-1945, Joseph J. Ellis
- 2002
- The Metaphysical Club, 1929-1945, Louis Menand III
- 2003
- An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943, 1929-1945, Rick Atkinson
- 2004
- A Nation Under Our Feet, Steven Hahn
- 2005
- Washington's Crossing, David Hackett Fischer
- 2006
- Polio: An American Story, David M. Oshinsky
- 2007
- The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation, Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
- 2008
- What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848, Daniel Walker Howe
- 2009
- The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family, Annette Gordon-Reed
- 2010
- Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Liaquat Ahamed
- 2011
- The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery, Eric Foner
- 2012
- Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, Manning Marable
- 2013
- Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam, Fredrik Logevall
- 2014
- The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832, Alan Taylor
- 2015
- Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People, Elizabeth A. Fenn
Back to Pulitzer Prizes Index Page.