2022 Year in Review

This year, we received over 200 applications and awarded 15 2023 New America National Fellowships. Through this dynamic National Fellows class, New America is supporting eleven book projects, two films, and two multimedia projects. Meet the Class of 2023 and learn more about the applicant pool by reading our Class of 2023 “Who Applied?” report.

Andrea Elliot was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for her book Invisible Child: Poverty, Survival & Hope in an American City.

Azmat Khan was recognized as the key contributor to the New York Times piece “The Civilian Casualty Files,” which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in International Reporting. Matthieu Aikins was recognized as a contributing reporter. Anand Gopal was named as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for his work in the New Yorker.

This year, New America’s National Fellows published seven books, three of which were reviewed in the New York Times. The books focused on fascinating topics including explorations of psychology and psychopharmacology, the identity of Black Native Americans, and modern China and surveillance technology. As always, our National Fellows bring challenging issues to the forefront of public discourse.

Reuben Jonathan Miller was named a MacArthur Fellow. The award followed the recognition of his book, Halfway Home, which was awarded the PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Science by the American Association of Publishers Award Winner and the Herbert Jacob Book Prize by the Law and Society Association Award Winner.

Andrea Elliot’s book Invisible Child was also awarded the Gotham Prize, the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize, and the New York Public Library’s 2022 Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. Elliot was also named as a finalist for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction.

Jonathan Katz's book, Gangsters of Capitalism, was published with reviews from the Washington Post, the New Republic, and the Associated Press. The book was named on Progressive Magazine's "Our Favorite books of 2022" list. Katz also adapted a portion of his book for a guest essay in the New York Times.

Matthieu Aikins published The Naked Don’t Fear the Water in February, with reviews from the New York Times, the Guardian, and the Economist, among many others. The book was also featured in TIME Magazine’s “The Best Books of 2022 So Far” and TIME’s “The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022.” The Naked Don’t Fear the Water was named in the Financial Times’ 2022 readers' book list. Ahead of the book’s publication, Aikins wrote the piece ‘We’ve Never Been Smuggled Before,’ adapted from his book for the New York Times.

Daniel Bergner’s book, The Mind and the Moon, was published in May and received a New York Times Sunday review.

Caleb J. Gayle’s publication of We Refuse to Forget was met with a starred review from Publishers Weekly, as well as reviews from the Christian Science Monitor and the New Yorker.

Josh Chin published Surveillance State with co-author Liza Lin. The book was reviewed by NPR, Bloomberg, and the Economist. Surveillance State was featured in the New Statesman’s “Books of the Year 2022” and was named in the Global Investigative Journalism Network’s “Investigative Titles for Your 2022 Reading List.”

Rachel Aviv’s book Strangers to Ourselves was published in September and received reviews from the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. Aviv also appeared on CBS Sunday Morning to discuss her book. Strangers to Ourselves was named in “The 10 Best Books of 2022” lists from both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Aviv’s book was also recognized by the New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2022” and was listed as one of the year’s “50 Notable Works of Nonfiction” by the Washington Post. Strangers to Ourselves was featured on the New York Times' “15 Works of Nonfiction to Read This Fall” and was named one of the most anticipated books of 2022 by Vulture and LitHub. Aviv’s book was featured in BookPage’s “Best Nonfiction of 2022” and was named a “must-read” of 2022 by TIME. Strangers to Ourselves and was also recognized in NPR’s 2022 “Books We Love.”

Karen Levy’s book Data Driven was published on December 6th and was reviewed by the American Prospect. Levy discussed her book in interviews with the Verge , Phenomenal World, and Mother Jones. Data Driven was also adapted for essays in several publications including Slate, Boston Review, and WIRED.

In addition to books, we are honored to have supported several media projects.

• CJ Hunt's film The Neutral Ground was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy in the category of Outstanding Historical Documentary.
• Tayor Lee Nagel and Emma Findlen Leblanc’s film If You Can Ever Get Back was screened at the Beloit International Film Festival.
• Sheri Fink's book Five Days At Memorial was adapted into an Apple TV+ series by the same name which premiered in August of 2022.

Along with captivating, award-winning books and films, our Fellows also produced a variety of longform articles and reporting projects.

• Abrahm Lustgarten wrote “The Barbados Rebellion,” a cover story for the New York Times Magazine, covering that nation’s fight against climate change.
• Daniel Bergner adapted a portion of his book The Mind and the Moon for the New York Time Magazine piece, “Doctors Gave Her Antipsychotics. She Decided to Live With Her Voices.”
• Matthieu Aikins reported on women’s rights in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan for the New York Times Magazine.

• Vann R. Newkirk II and Keisha N. Blain were named 2022 Andrew Carnegie Fellows.
• Keisha N. Blain and Thomas Chatterton Williams were named 2022 Guggenheim Fellows in United States History and General Nonfiction, respectively.
• Theodore R. Johnson was named an Emerson Collective Fellow in their new Democracy Cohort.
• Marcia Chatelain was awarded the James Beard Foundation Book Award for Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.
• Clint Smith's How the Word is Passed was awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award for nonfiction.
• Julian Brave NoiseCat was awarded the American Mosaic Journalism Prize.
• Nonny de la Peña was awarded a Peabody Field Builder Award.
• Matthieu Aikins was awarded the 2022 Osborn Elliott Prize for Excellence in Journalism on Asia for his reporting in the New York Times Magazine.
• Bartow Elmore was awarded the Dan David Prize, which recognizes outstanding scholarship in history.
• Matthieu Aikins, Azmat Khan, and Rachel Aviv were recognized by the American Society of Magazine Editors National Magazine Award for their work in Reporting, Public Interest, and Profile Writing, respectively.
• Eve L. Ewing received tenure at the University of Chicago; Karen Levy received tenure at Cornell University. Keisha N. Blain joined Brown University as a professor of Africana Studies and History.
• Caleb J. Gayle and Francesca Mari were named Fellows at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Studies.
• Anna Louie Sussman was selected as a 2022-2023 visiting journalist with the Russell Sage Foundation.