2023 Year in Review

This year, we received over 200 applications and awarded 15 New America National Fellowships. With this dynamic National Fellows class, New America is supporting 12 book projects, two films, and one podcast. Meet the Class of 2024 and learn more about the applicant pool by reading our Class of 2024 “Who Applied?” report.

Mona Chalabi was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Illustrated Reporting and Commentary for her work in the New York Times. Hua Hsu was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in Memoir or Autobiography for his book, Stay True.

This year, New America’s National Fellows published seven books, five of which were reviewed in the New York Times. The books focused on fascinating topics including the rise and fall of cryptocurrency, school choice, and the untold history of Black philanthropy. As always, our National Fellows bring challenging issues to the forefront of public discourse.

Monica Potts published The Forgotten Girls in April and the book was reviewed in the New York Times, the Guardian, the Times of London, and the Wall Street Journal. The book was also featured in an op-ed in the New York Times about the struggles of American women.

Zeke Faux’s book, Number Go Up, was published in September and was reviewed in the London Review of Books, WIRED, the Wall Street Journal, and the Los Angeles Times. Number Go Up was named one of the best books of the year by the Financial Times and was listed as one of the “50 Notable Books of Nonfiction of 2023” by the Washington Post. An excerpt from the book was the August cover story for Bloomberg Magazine.

Cara Fitzpatrick’s The Death of Public School also published this year. The book was reviewed in the New York Times Sunday Book Review, the Wall Street Journal, and the Tampa Bay Times. Fitzpatrick was interviewed widely about the book, including by the74million.org.

Lisa M. Hamilton published The Hungry Season in September and the book received two starred pre-publication reviews in Booklist and Kirkus. Upon publication the book was reviewed in the New York Times and Shelf Awareness. Hamilton published an excerpt from the book in the New York Times.

Azam Ahmed’s book, Fear is Just a Word, was also published in September. The book was reviewed in the New York Times. It was named one of the “Best Books of 2023” by the New Yorker and the Economist, and as one of the “20 Best Books of Nonfiction” by Amazon. The book also received starred pre-publication reviews in Kirkus and Publishers Weekly.

In October, Some People Need Killing was published by Patricia Evangelista. The book was reviewed in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic. The book was named as one of the New York Times’ “Ten Best Books of the Year,” one of the “100 Must-Read Books of the Year” by TIME, and one of the “Best Books of 2023” by the New Yorker and the Economist. The book was selected by President Barack Obama as one of his favorites of 2023.

Tanisha C. Ford published Our Secret Society. The book was reviewed in Town and Country and received a starred pre-publication review in Publishers Weekly. The book was included on the list “October 2023 Reads for the Rest of Us” in Ms. Magazine. The book was selected as a "Favorite Book of 2023" in Vanity Fair. Ford appeared on All Things Considered to discuss the book.

• The paperback of Rachel Aviv’s book, Strangers to Ourselves, was a New York Times bestseller for two weeks in October. Aviv was also named as a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize and nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award.
• Jessica Pishko was named a finalist for the Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for her forthcoming book, The Highest Law in the Land: How the Growing Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy.
• Francesca Mari published a New York Magazine cover story, “Lessons from a Renters' Utopia,” about socialized housing in Vienna, Austria, and the United States.
• Vann R. Newkirk II released the podcast Holy Week with the Atlantic, which explores how the week that followed the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., diverted the course of a social revolution.
• Trevor Aaronson released the podcast Alphabet Boys with Western Sound and iHeartMedia, a multi-season narrative that brings listeners inside the world of America’s alphabet agencies, such as the FBI, CIA, DEA, and ATF.
• Mosi Secret released the podcast Radical with Campside Media, Tenderfoot TV, and iHeart Radio, which is a deep-dive into the convicted civil rights activist, Jamil Al-Amin, formerly H. Rap Brown's, story.
• Jonathan Katz’s book, Gangsters of Capitalism, was named a finalist in the Library of Virginia's People's Choice Awards.