Editing Tracy Kidder

{{short description|American writer and Pulitzer Prize winner}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}}
{{Infobox writer
| name         = Tracy Kidder
| image        = Tracy Kidder 2013.jpg
| alt          = 
| caption      = Kidder in 2013
| pseudonym    = 
| birth_name   = 
| birth_date   = {{Birth date and age|1945|11|12}}
| birth_place  = New York City
| death_date   = 
| death_place  = 
| occupation   = 
| nationality  = 
| ethnicity    = 
| citizenship  = 
| education    = 
| alma_mater   = [[Harvard University]]<br />[[University of Iowa]]
| period       = 
| genre        = Non-fiction
| subject      = 
| movement     = [[Creative nonfiction|Literary journalism]]
| notableworks = ''[[The Soul of a New Machine]]''<br />''[[Mountains Beyond Mountains]]''
| spouse       = Frances<ref name=nytt2017>{{cite web|url=http://partners.nytimes.com/library/books/041599kidder-home.html|title=On Main Street With Tracy Kidder|website=partners.nytimes.com|access-date=December 19, 2017}}</ref>
| partner.      = 
| children     = Nathaniel T. Kidder, Alice Bukhman
| relatives    = 
| influences   = 
| influenced   = 
| awards       = {{Awards |award=[[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction]] | year=1982 | title=The Soul of a New Machine}}
| signature    = 
| website      = 
| portaldisp   = 
}}

'''John Tracy Kidder''' (born November 12, 1945) is an American writer of nonfiction books. He received the   [[Pulitzer Prize]] for his ''[[The Soul of a New Machine]]'' (1981), about the creation of a new computer at [[Data General|Data General Corporation]]. He has received praise and awards for other works, including his biography of [[Paul Farmer]], a physician and anthropologist, titled ''[[Mountains Beyond Mountains]]'' (2003).

Kidder is considered a [[Creative nonfiction|literary journalist]] because of the strong story line and personal voice in his writing.<ref name=Sims>
{{cite book |last1=Sims |first1=Norman |editor1-first=Norman |editor1-last=Sims |title=The Literary Journalists |year=1984 |publisher=Ballantine Books |isbn=978-0-345-31081-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/literaryjournali00sims/page/3 3–25] |url=https://archive.org/details/literaryjournali00sims/page/3 }}
</ref>{{Rp|5}} He has cited as his writing influences [[John McPhee]], [[A. J. Liebling]], and [[George Orwell]].<ref name=DLB />{{Rp|127–128}} In a 1984 interview he said, "McPhee has been my model. He's the most elegant of all the journalists writing today, I think."<ref name=Sims />{{Rp|7}}

Kidder wrote in a 1994 essay, "In fiction, believability may have nothing to do with reality or even plausibility. It has everything to do with those things in nonfiction. I think that the nonfiction writer's fundamental job is to make what is true believable."<ref>
{{cite journal |last=Kidder |first=Tracy |date=February 1994 |title=Facts and the nonfiction writer |journal=The Writer |volume=107 |issue=2 |pages=14–16 |issn=0043-9517 }}</ref>

==Early life and education==
John Tracy Kidder was born November 12, 1945, in New York City.<ref name=CA>{{cite book |title=Contemporary Authors: New Revision Series |volume=61 |year=1998 |publisher=Gale Research |isbn=0-7876-2004-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780787620042/page/263 263–267] |chapter=Kidder, Trina 1945– |editor1=Daniel Jones   |editor2=John D. Jorgenson |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780787620042/page/263 }}</ref>{{Rp|263}}
He graduated from [[Phillips Academy]] in 1963.<ref>{{cite web | title=Phillips Academy – Notable Alumni – Literature, Publishing & Journalism | url=http://wwwdev.andover.edu/About/Notable%20Alumni/Pages/LiteraturePublishingJournalism.aspx | publisher=Phillips Academy | year=2009 | access-date=June 10, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://archive.today/20090620014733/http://wwwdev.andover.edu/About/Notable%20Alumni/Pages/LiteraturePublishingJournalism.aspx | archive-date=June 20, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
He attended [[Harvard College]], originally majoring in [[political science]], but switching to English after taking a course in creative writing from [[Robert Fitzgerald]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kidder |first=Tracy |date=Fall 1996 |title=Courting the approval of the dead |journal= TriQuarterly |issue=97 |pages=43–59 |issn= 0041-3097}}</ref> He received an AB degree from Harvard in 1967.<ref name=CA />{{Rp|263}}

Kidder served in the [[United States Army]] as a [[first lieutenant]], [[Military intelligence|Military Intelligence]], Vietnam, from 1967 to 1969.<ref name=CA />{{Rp|263}} After returning from Vietnam, he wrote for some time and was admitted to the [[Iowa Writers' Workshop]].<ref name=DLB>{{cite book |last1=Bennett |first1=David |title=Dictionary of Literary Biography |volume=185 |year=1997 |publisher=Gale Research |isbn=0-7876-1119-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/americanliterary00arth/page/127 127–137] |chapter=Tracy Kidder |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/americanliterary00arth/page/127 }}</ref>{{Rp|128}} He received an [[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]] degree from the [[University of Iowa]] in 1974.<ref name=CA />{{Rp|263}}

==Career==
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|The Atlantic Monthly]]'' commissioned the work, and he continued writing as a freelancer for the magazine during the 1970s.<ref name=DLB />{{Rp|128}} ''The Road to Yuba City'' was a critical failure,<ref name=DLB />{{Rp|128, 137}} and Kidder said in a 1995 interview that

<blockquote>I can't say anything intelligent about that book, except that I learned never to write about a murder case. The whole experience was disgusting, so disgusting, in fact, that in 1981 I went to Doubleday and bought back the rights to the book. I don't want ''The Road to Yuba City'' to see the light of day again.<ref name=DLB />{{Rp|129}}</blockquote>

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."<ref name="DLB" />{{Rp|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."<ref name="DLB" />{{Rp|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.<ref name=DLB />{{Rp|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 (book)|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 [[John F. Kennedy School of Government|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''.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://www.randomhouse.com/acmart/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781400069750|title = Random House website| date=July 27, 2023 }}</ref> He lectured to students and did research to identify his next narrative subject.

==Selected awards==
* [[Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction]], 1982, for ''[[The Soul of a New Machine]]''<ref>{{cite web | title=The Pulitzer Prizes: General Nonfiction | url=http://www.pulitzer.org/bycat/General-Nonfiction | publisher=Columbia University | date=June 5, 2009 | access-date=June 8, 2009}}</ref>
* [[National Book Award for Nonfiction]], 1982, for ''The Soul of a New Machine''<ref name=nba1982>
[https://www.nationalbook.org/awards-prizes/national-book-awards-1982 "National Book Awards – 1982"]. [[National Book Foundation]]. Retrieved 2009-06-08.</ref><ref group=lower-alpha>
This was the award for [[List of winners of the National Book Award#General Nonfiction|hardcover "General Nonfiction"]].<br />From 1980 to 1983 in [[National Book Award#History|National Book Awards history]] there were several nonfiction subcategories, including General Nonfiction, with dual hardcover and paperback awards in most categories.</ref>
* Robert F. Kennedy Book Award, 1989–1990, for ''Among Schoolchildren''<ref>{{cite web | title=10th Annual RFK Book Award | url=http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/10th/ | publisher=Robert F. Kennedy Memorial | access-date=June 8, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090620111152/http://www.rfkmemorial.org/legacyinaction/10th/ | archive-date=June 20, 2009 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
*[[Laurence L. & Thomas Winship/PEN New England Award|L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award]], 1990, for ''Among Schoolchildren''
* [[Ambassador Book Award]] in American Studies, 1990, for ''Among Schoolchildren''<ref>{{cite web | title=Past Winners 1986–2002 | url=http://www.esuus.org/books_across_sea_ambassador_books_awards_past_winners_1986_2002.htm | publisher=English-Speaking Union of the United States | date=January 11, 2007 | access-date=June 8, 2009 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080820011218/http://www.esuus.org/books_across_sea_ambassador_books_awards_past_winners_1986_2002.htm | archive-date=August 20, 2008 | df=mdy-all }}</ref>
* Golden Plate Award of the [[Academy of Achievement|American Academy of Achievement]], 2001<ref>{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url= https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title= Marvin Minsky Biography and Interview|url= https://achievement.org/achiever/marvin-minsky-ph-d/|quote= Awards Council member Marvin Minsky presents the Academy’s Golden Plate Award to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder during the 2001 Academy of Achievement Summit in San Antonio, Texas.}}</ref> 
* [[Lettre Ulysses Award]] (2nd prize), 2004, for ''[[Mountains Beyond Mountains]]''<ref>{{cite web | title=Lettre Ulysses Award: Winners 2004 | url=http://www.lettre-ulysses-award.org/index04/winners2004.html | publisher=[[Lettre International]] | access-date=June 9, 2009}}</ref>

==Books==
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = The Road to Yuba City: A Journey into the [[Juan Corona]] Murders | publisher = Doubleday | location = Garden City | year = 1974 | isbn = 978-0-385-02865-3 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = [[The Soul of a New Machine]] | publisher = Little, Brown | location = Boston | year = 1981| isbn = 978-0-316-49170-9 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = House | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | location = Boston | year = 1985 | isbn = 0-618-00191-3 | url = https://archive.org/details/house00kiddrich }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = Among Schoolchildren | publisher = Avon Books | location = New York | year = 1990 | orig-year = 1989 | isbn = 0-380-71089-7 | url = https://archive.org/details/amongschoolchild00kidd }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = Old Friends | url = https://archive.org/details/oldfriends00kidd | url-access = registration | publisher = Houghton Mifflin | location = Boston | year = 1993 | isbn = 978-0-395-71088-3 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = Home Town | publisher = Washington Square Press | location = New York | year = 2000 | orig-year = 1999 | isbn = 0-671-78521-4 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_0671785214 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = [[Mountains Beyond Mountains]] | publisher = Random House | location = New York | year = 2003 | isbn = 0-375-50616-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = My Detachment: A Memoir | publisher = Random House | location = New York | year = 2005 | isbn = 0-375-50615-2 | url = https://archive.org/details/mydetachmentmemo00kidd }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy | title = Strength in What Remains | url = https://archive.org/details/strengthinwhatre00kidd | url-access = registration | publisher = Random House | location = New York | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-1-4000-6621-6 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy |author2=Todd, Richard  | title = Good Prose: The Art of Nonfiction | publisher = Random House | location = New York | year = 2013 | isbn = 978-1-4000-6975-0 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy |title=A Truck Full of Money: One Man's Quest to Recover from Great Success |publisher=Random House |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-8129-9524-4 }}
* {{cite book | last = Kidder | first = Tracy |title=Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O'Connell's Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People | url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/594500/rough-sleepers-by-tracy-kidder/ |publisher=Random House |year=2023 |isbn=978-1-9848-0143-2 }}<ref>Briefly reviewed in the [https://harpers.org/archive/2023/01/ January 2023 issue] of ''[[Harper's Magazine]]'', pp.71–73.</ref>

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|group=lower-alpha}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.tracykidder.com/ Kidder's web site]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071201070348/http://lyceumagency.com/tracy+kidder.aspx Lyceum Agency]
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050921025244/http://wiredforbooks.org/tracykidder/ 1985 audio interview of Tracy Kidder at Wired for Books.org]}} by Don Swaim
* {{OL author}}
* {{C-SPAN|60105}}
** [http://www.c-span.org/video/?288971-1/qa-tracy-kidder C-SPAN ''Q&A'' interview with Kidder, October 11, 2009]

{{PulitzerPrize GeneralNon-Fiction 1976–2000}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kidder, Tracy}}
[[Category:1945 births]]
[[Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American technology writers]]
[[Category:The Atlantic (magazine) people]]
[[Category:Harvard College alumni]]
[[Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:National Book Award winners]]
[[Category:Phillips Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction winners]]
[[Category:United States Army officers]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War]]
[[Category:Writers from New York City]]