Bestselling American author and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands is coming to Tulsa Dec. 5 and 6 to receive the 2024 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award, given by the Tulsa City-County Library and Tulsa Library Trust.
Brands will receive the Helmerich Award, which consists of a $40,000 cash prize and an engraved crystal book, at a black-tie gala in his honor on Friday, Dec. 6. He will give a free public presentation at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 5, and speak about his life and works, answer questions and sign autographs. Copies of his books will be available for purchase at the event. Both presentations will take place at Central Library, Fifth Street and Denver Avenue.
An acclaimed historian and professor, Brands has written more than 30 books, co-authored or edited five others, and published dozens of articles and scores of reviews. Two of his biographies, The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin and Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize.
In addition to works on U.S. history, Brands has written books on the economic development of the United States and biographies of key leaders in corporate America. His most recent works are America First: Roosevelt vs. Lindbergh in the Shadow of War (2024) and Founding Partisans: Hamilton, Madison, Jefferson, Adams and the Brawling Birth of American Politics (2023). His writings have been translated into Spanish, French, German, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Czech, Danish and Ukrainian.
Brands holds the Jack S. Blanton Sr. chair in history at the University of Texas at Austin. He is a member of various honorary societies, including the Society of American Historians and the Philosophical Society of Texas. He is a regular guest on national radio and television programs, and is frequently interviewed by the American and foreign press.
To complement Brands’ visit to Tulsa, the Herman and Kate Kaiser Library, 5202 S. Hudson Ave., will offer a discussion of Brands’ Founding Partisans for its Creative Truths: A History Book Discussion program on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 9 a.m. In addition, the Friends of the Tulsa City-County Libraries will offer a “H. W. Brands Sampler” as a part of its popular Books Sandwiched In series on Monday, Dec. 2 at 12:10 p.m. at Central Library in Aaronson Auditorium. Adrian Alexander, dean emeritus of McFarlin Library at The University of Tulsa and member of the Helmerich Award Author Selection Committee, will present the retrospect of Brands’ work.
For more information about the Distinguished Author Award, visit www.tulsalibrary.org/helmerichaward or call 918-549-7323.