Historian, journalist wins $100K military lit prize
Last Updated: Monday, June 21, 2010 | 3:28 PM ET
CBC News
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist Rick Atkinson has won a $100,000 US prize for his military writing.
Atkinson, a journalist who earned Pulitzer Prizes both for his reporting as well as his historical tomes, was named on Monday the 2010 recipient of the Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
James N. Pritzker, the prize's founder and president of the Pritzker Military Library and Tawani Foundation, praised Atkinson in a statement.
"Throughout his multifaceted career, Rick has given readers accurate and frank analysis of military history from World War II to the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan," Pritzker said.
"His independent voice, tempered with respect and compassion, has earned high esteem not only from scholars, journalists, and civilians on the home front but also the members of the armed forces about whom he writes."
Atkinson, who will receive the honour in a gala in October, called it "simply thrilling" to win an award that "recognizes the literary aspirations of vivid military history. I'm grateful, and delighted."
His books include The Long Gray Line, Crusade: The Untold Story of the Persian Gulf War and In the Company of Soldiers: A Chronicle of Combat.
He is currently working on the third book in his eventual trilogy about the liberation of Europe during the Second World War. The forthcoming title follows his earlier books An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 and The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944.
Past winners of the Pritzker Award include American Civil War historian James McPherson and Allan Millett, a specialist on the Korean War and American military policy and institutions.
With files from The Associated PressShare Tools
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