Lawrence Wright Wins 2007 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism
Award Given for Wright’s The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 at Public Event Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Award
Foreign Affairs Editor James F. Hoge, Jr. Headed Selection Committee of Journalists and Publishers
May 2, 2007 -- The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism was awarded last night to Lawrence Wright for his book The Looming Tower: al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Alfred A. Knopf). The award, which includes a $15,000 cash prize, is given annually to a journalist whose work brings clarity and public attention to important issues, events, or policies. Paul LeClerc, the Library’s President, and James Hoge made the announcement at a program celebrating the Bernstein Award’s 20th anniversary, held at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
“I want to thank the judges for this marvelous validation of my work,” said Lawrence Wright. “My goal in writing The Looming Tower was to examine the roots of al-Qaeda and to understand the nature of the threat that this terror organization poses to America and other western countries. Our struggle against Islamic extremism will not end soon. The political, psychological, and emotional despair that gave rise to this movement has not been altered or resolutely addressed. And the legacy of the war in Iraq is sure to define this contest for another generation.”
Books were nominated by their publishers. Five finalists were chosen by a review committee of New York Public Library librarians. The four other finalists, each of whom received a $1,000 cash prize, are: Rajiv Chandrasekaran, Assistant Managing Editor, The Washington Post, for Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone (Alfred A. Knopf); Michelle Goldberg, Senior Writer, Salon.com, for Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism (W. W. Norton); Jed Horne, Metro Editor, The Times-Picayune, for Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City (Random House); and Thomas E. Ricks, Senior Pentagon Correspondent, The Washington Post, for Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (The Penguin Press).
Previous winners of the Award include Philip Gourevitch’s We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families: stories from Rwanda (1999); High and Mighty: SUVs – The World’s Most Dangerous Vehicles and How They Got That Way by Keith Bradsher (2003); David Remnick’s Lenin’s Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire (1994); and The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America by Nicholas Lemann (1991). (A full list of past winners is available upon request.)
After the winner was announced, a panel discussion titled Covering Foreign Conflict and the Military Over 20 Tumultuous Years was held, in recognition of the 20th anniversary of the Bernstein Awards. George Packer, The New Yorker staff writer and 2006 Bernstein Award recipient for The Assassins’ Gate; Dana Priest, National Security writer for The Washington Post and 2004 Bernstein Award winner for The Mission: Waging War and Keeping Peace with America’s Military; and Dexter Filkins, Middle East Correspondent, The New York Times participated; Alex S. Jones, Director of the Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy at Harvard University, moderated.
About the Author and Book
Lawrence Wright is an author and screenwriter, and a staff writer for The New Yorker. He has published six books, including Twins: Genes, Environment, and the Mystery of Identity (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1997; Wiley & Sons, 1998), and God’s Favorite (Simon & Schuster, 2000) and is the co-screenwriter (with Ed Zwick and Menno Meyjes) of The Seige, starring Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, and Annette Bening, released in November 1998. In The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, Wright reveals the events leading to 9/11 by telling the story through the interweaving lives of four men: the two leaders of al-Qaeda, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri; the FBI’s counterterrorism chief, John O’Neill; and the former head of Saudi intelligence, Prince Turki al-Faisal. Achieving an unprecedented level of intimacy and insight, Wright’s remarkable book is based on five years of research and hundreds of interviews that he conducted in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, England, France, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
About the Selection Committee
The 2007 Selection Committee is being chaired by James F. Hoge, Jr., Editor of Foreign Affairs, Council on Foreign Relations. The other 2007 committee members are: Ellis Cose, Contributing Editor, Newsweek; Osborn Elliott, former Editor-in-Chief of Newsweek
and Founding Chairman of the Citizens Committee for New York City;
Harold W. McGraw III, Chairman, President and CEO, The McGraw-Hill
Companies; George Packer, The New Yorker staff writer and 2006 Bernstein Award recipient for his book The Assassins' Gate: America in Iraq; Jack Rosenthal, President, The New York Times Company Foundation; Elaine Sciolinio, Paris Bureau Chief; The New York Times , and 2001 Bernstein Award recipient for her book Persian Mirrors: The Elusive Face of Iran ; and Alair Townsend, Publisher, Crain's New York Business.
About The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Book Award
Established in 1987 as an annual award, The New York Public Library Helen Bernstein
Book Award for Excellence in Journalism honors an outstanding
journalist. The award was established with a gift from Joseph F.
Bernstein in honor of Helen Bernstein, a former journalist in Palm
Beach, Florida. The gift also included an endowment for the position of
the Helen Bernstein Chief Librarian for Periodicals and Journals in the
Humanities and Social Sciences Library. The chair is currently held by
Karen Gisonny, who oversees a collection of 11,500 current periodicals
in 24 languages. This collection is used by approximately 60,000
researchers annually and is an invaluable resource for writers,
artists, journalists, broadcasters, business people, and students.
Information about the award and the nomination process is available
online at www.nypl.org/pr/awardspage.cfm.
About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library was created in 1895 with the consolidation
of the private libraries of John Jacob Astor and James Lenox with the
Samuel Jones Tilden Trust. The Library provides free and open access to
its physical and electronic collections and information, as well as to
its services. It comprises four research centers – The Humanities and
Social Sciences Library; The New York Public Library for the Performing
Arts; the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture; and the
Science, Industry and Business Library – and 86 Branch Libraries in
Manhattan, Staten Island, and the Bronx. Research and circulating
collections combined total more than 50 million items, including
materials for the visually impaired. In addition, each year the Library
presents thousands of exhibitions and public programs, which include
classes in technology, literacy, and English as a second language. The
New York Public Library serves over 15 million patrons who come through
its doors annually and another 21 million users internationally, who
access collections and services through the NYPL website, www.nypl.org.
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Contact: Gayle Snible at 212.592.7700 or gsnible@nypl.org
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