The Pulitzer Diaries: Inside America's Greatest Prize

Hohenberg, now past 90, has been mining the Pulitzer Prize archives at Columbia University for decades. This is his fourth book about the prizes, which are awarded annually to journalists, novelists, playwrights, poets, musicians, historians and biographers, and the first to reproduce personal diary entries kept by Hohenberg during his 22 years as administrator of the competition (1954-1976). The publisher claims that Hohenberg ""refrained from publishing this work until the death of certain colleagues who figure prominently in some of the controversial events,"" but many of the diary entries are mundane, almost boring, and some having nothing to do with prizes but rather concern Hohenberg's views on then current events. Those random musings are neither original in thought nor well-written. Occasionally, however, Hohenberg serves up inside information about the stormy deliberations that have long characterized the Pulitzer Prizes. Repeatedly, Hohenberg relates incidents in which deserving writers receive support from jurors (the first tier of judges), only to end up also-rans when higher tiers of less knowledgeable judges object on political or personal grounds. Although the author cares deeply about the prestige and impact of the Pulitzers (he has one himself for ""services to American journalism""), his book tends to devalue the prize by confirming what critics have suspected is carelessness and arbitrariness in its selection process. (Apr.)