The 2022 Zócalo Book Prize Celebrates Human Connectedness

For 12 Years, We Have Honored Excellence in Nonfiction Exploring Community and Social Cohesion

Since 2011, Zócalo Public Square’s annual book prize has recognized the U.S.-published nonfiction book that best enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or undermine human connectedness and social cohesion.

Our mission is to connect people to ideas and to each other, which is why we have chosen to honor authors who explore these themes for over a decade. In 2022, as we rediscover and reinvigorate public spaces after many months of isolation, we look forward to learning from some of the top thinkers from around the world, …

September 17, 2021

Does America Really Want to Be a Nation of Immigrants? | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Journalist Jia Lynn Yang Wins the 11th Annual Zócalo Book Prize

One Mighty and Irresistible Tide Challenges the Well-Worn American Immigration Narrative

Interview by Jackie Mansky | April 21, 2021

Jia Lynn Yang, national editor at the New York Times, is the winner of the 11th annual Zócalo Book Prize for her debut book, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic …

Can Playwrights Lead the Next American Reconstruction?

Theater Encompasses ‘Truth, Reconciliation, and Recompense’—All Integral Ingredients to Imagine How the Country Can Build Back Better

by Oliver Mayer | March 11, 2021

History shows how badly Americans flubbed our First Reconstruction in the aftermath of Civil War. Although we did better, we hardly lived up to the lofty intentions of the Second …

Thank the Pilgrims for America’s Tradition of Separatism, Division, and Infighting

They Were Not the Nation’s First Settlers, but They Were the Most Fractious

by Richard Kreitner | November 25, 2020

December marks the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth, the moment habitually yet mistakenly thought of as the beginning of America. The conflation of New England’s history with …

Our Search for Human Connection Continues in 2020

The 11th Annual Zócalo Book Prize Honors the Best Writing on Community and Social Cohesion

September 4, 2020

Since 2011, Zócalo Public Square’s annual book prize has recognized the nonfiction book, published in the U.S., that best enhances our understanding of community and the forces that strengthen or …

How the Yellow House Helped Make Washington, D.C. a Slavery Capital

The Notorious Jail Lent Institutional Support to Slavery Throughout the South

by Jeff Forret | July 15, 2020

Washington, D.C., was a capital not just of the United States, but of slavery, serving as a major depot in the domestic slave trade. In the District, enslaved men, women, …

American history

The 2022 Zócalo Book Prize Celebrates Human Connectedness

For 12 Years, We Have Honored Excellence in Nonfiction Exploring Community and Social Cohesion

Journalist Jia Lynn Yang Wins the 11th Annual Zócalo Book Prize

One Mighty and Irresistible Tide Challenges the Well-Worn American Immigration Narrative

Can Playwrights Lead the Next American Reconstruction?

Theater Encompasses ‘Truth, Reconciliation, and Recompense’—All Integral Ingredients to Imagine How the Country Can Build Back Better

Thank the Pilgrims for America’s Tradition of Separatism, Division, and Infighting

They Were Not the Nation’s First Settlers, but They Were the Most Fractious

Our Search for Human Connection Continues in 2020

The 11th Annual Zócalo Book Prize Honors the Best Writing on Community and Social Cohesion

How the Yellow House Helped Make Washington, D.C. a Slavery Capital

The Notorious Jail Lent Institutional Support to Slavery Throughout the South

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Hattiesburg Tells Us What America Has Lost, Gained—and Still Needs to Fix

Zócalo Book Prize Winner William Sturkey Describes What a Community Achieved Under Oppression—and How We Can Learn From Its Accomplishments Today

Historian William Sturkey Wins the 10th Annual Zócalo Book Prize

Hattiesburg, an Intimate Look at a Segregated Southern City, Delivers a ‘Finely Woven Microcosm of American Society’

Our Search for Human Connection Continues in 2020

The 11th Annual Zócalo Book Prize Honors the Best Writing on Community and Social Cohesion

The 2022 Zócalo Public Square Poetry Prize Explores Place

Since 2012, We’ve Honored Works That Visit Landscapes Both Real and Imagined

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