Tracy Kidder

At 78 years old, Tracy Kidder physical status not available right now. We will update Tracy Kidder's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Kidder wrote his first book, The Road to Yuba City: a Journey into the Juan Corona Murders, while at the University of Iowa. The Atlantic Monthly commissioned the work, and he continued writing as a freelancer for the magazine during the 1970s.: 128  The Road to Yuba City was a critical failure,: 128, 137  and Kidder said in a 1995 interview that

Kidder has said that, unlike many other writers, he was not much influenced by his Vietnam experience: "Of course, whenever you're in an experience like Vietnam, it is bound to influence your work; it's inevitable, but I really don't think it greatly shaped me as a writer.": 128  His works for The Atlantic Monthly include several essays and short stories about the Vietnam War, including "The Death of Major Great" (1974), "Soldiers of Misfortune" (1978), and "In Quarantine" (1980). Writing in 1997, David Bennett rated these three pieces "among the finest reporting to come out of Vietnam.": 128

Kidder's second book, The Soul of a New Machine (1981), was much more successful than his first. His account of the complex community and environment of programming and computer development won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1982. He has continued to write nonfiction books and articles, and these have been well received by the critics.: 127  Kidder's 2009 book, Strength in What Remains, is a portrait of a man who survived the genocide in Burundi.

He has explored a wide range of topics through his books: House (1985), a "biography" of a couple having their first house built, and the people involved in the project; Among Schoolchildren (1989), set in an elementary-school classroom in Holyoke, Massachusetts, and reflecting on US education through the lives of these 20 children and their teacher (these two books were both bestsellers); and Old Friends (1993), which explored the daily lives and personal growth of a pair of elderly men in a nursing home. His books have made "Notable" annual lists of The New York Times and received positive praise from critics, in addition to awards.

In fall 2010 Kidder was selected as the first A. M. Rosenthal Writer-in-Residence at the Harvard Kennedy School's Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. At the center, he worked with his onetime editor at The Atlantic, Richard Todd, on a book about writing, titled Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction. He lectured to students and did research to identify his next narrative subject.

Source

• Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, 1982, for The Soul of a New Machine
• National Book Award for Nonfiction, 1982, for The Soul of a New Machine
• Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, 1989–1990, for Among Schoolchildren
• L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award, 1990, for Among Schoolchildren
• Ambassador Book Award in American Studies, 1990, for Among Schoolchildren
• Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, 2001
• Lettre Ulysses Award (2nd prize), 2004, for Mountains Beyond Mountains