2010 Finalist

The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst

by Kenneth Whyte

Kenneth Whyte's life of the newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst demonstrates how biography can rise to the status of literary art - through lively prose, strong narrative and a clear-sighted, fresh appraisal of its material - while still remaining a scholarly and meticulously researched project. Like other notable biographies, Whyte's book tackles themes that transcend its individual subject. The author uses Hearst and his phenomenally successful newspapers as a case study in the functioning of news media in a democracy and in the responsibilities and limits of influence possessed by mass media.



Kenneth Whyte at the presentation ceremony, January 15, 2010.