S. C. Gwynne

Samuel C. Gwynne III is an American writer. He holds a bachelor's degree in history from Princeton University and a master's degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University.

Life and career

Gwynne was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, to Sam Gwynne Jr., He also has a master's degree in writing from Johns Hopkins University, where he was awarded a graduate fellowship and studied under novelist John Barth. His journalism has appeared in the New York Times, Harper's, Los Angeles Times, Outside Magazine, Dallas Morning News, California Magazine, and the Wall Street Journal, among others. His New York Times Bestseller Empire of the Summer Moon (2010) was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in the General Nonfiction category and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. On October 5, 2024, the Comanche Nation passed a resolution denouncing the book. His book Rebel Yell, a biography of Stonewall Jackson – also a New York Times Bestseller – was a finalist for the PEN Award for Literary Biography and for the National Book Critics Circle Award in history. He is also the author of The Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football (2016), and, most recently, Hymns of the Republic: the Story of The Final Year of the American Civil War (2019). His newest book, His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine, was released on May 2, 2023.

Works

Selling Money, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1986. The Outlaw Bank: A Wild Ride into the Secret Heart of BCCI, Random House, 1993 Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, Scribner, 2010.

The Perfect Pass: American Genius and the Reinvention of Football, Scribner, 2016, Hymns of the Republic: The Story of the Final Year of the American Civil War, Scribner, 2019, His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine, Scribner, 2023.

Awards

Gerald Loeb Award for Magazines for a series of articles on the BCCI scandal Jack Anderson Award For Best Investigative Reporting National Headliners Club Award for Reporting Oklahoma Book Award Texas Book Award John Hancock award for Excellence in Financial Reporting National City and Regional Magazine Award for Writer of the Year Selected for "Best American Crime Writing" 2006 Finalist for 2011 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction (Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History)