Pulitzer Prize History Winner
Lamy of Santa Fe
by Paul Horgan
Summary
Horgan tells the life of Jean Baptiste Lamy, the French born Catholic bishop who built the church in the New Mexico territory during the nineteenth century. He sets Lamy's mission against the rugged southwestern landscape, the clash of Hispanic, Native, and Anglo cultures, and the slow reach of American power. The biography blends history with literary craft to portray a quiet figure who shaped a region.
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Historical Context & Significance
Paul Horgan won his second Pulitzer Prize for History with this biography in 1976, the same churchman who inspired Willa Cather's novel Death Comes for the Archbishop.