2021 Year in Review

This year, we received nearly 350 applications and awarded 15 2022 New America National Fellowships. The competitive selection process is reflected in the immense talent of the 15 National Fellows who earned a spot in this class. Meet the Class of 2022 and learn more about the applicant pool by reading our Class of 2022 “Who Applied?” report.

This year, New America’s National Fellows published ten books on fascinating topics ranging from the right to die to legacies of slavery in America to the twisted legal history of an agricultural empire. As always, our National Fellows are bringing challenging issues to the forefront of public discourse.

Marcia Chatelain was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in History for her book Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America.

Clint Smith’s book How the Word is Passed was reviewed in the Washington Post and the New York Times, and it debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list. How the Word Is Passed was included in Publishers Weekly’s “Best Nonfiction Books of 2021,” Amazon Editors’ “Best Books of 2021,” TIME Magazine’s “100 Must-Read Books of 2021,” the Washington Post’s “Best nonfiction of 2021,” and the New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2021.” It was also longlisted for the National Book Award in Nonfiction, named one of the New York Times’ “10 Best Books of 2021,” and included at number four on TIME Magazine’s list of the “10 Best Nonfiction Books of 2021.”

Reuben Jonathan Miller’s book Halfway Home was published in February and was reviewed by the Washington Post and the New York Times. Halfway Home was also included on NPR’s “Books We Love—2021.”

Katie Engelhart’s book The Inevitable was published in March and was reviewed in the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Hassan Abbas’s book The Prophets Heir was published in March and was reviewed in the London School of Economics’ Middle East Centre Blog.

Jude Joffe-Block’s book, co-written with Terry Greene Sterling, Driving While Brown was published in April. It was included on NPR’s “Books We Love—2021.”

Theodore Johnson’s book When the Stars Begin to Fall was published in June and was reviewed in the Washington Post.

Annie Murphy Paul's book The Extended Mind was published in June and reviewed by the New York Times and the Washington Post. The Extended Mind appeared on Amazon Books' list of “The Best Science Books of 2021 So Far,” the Washington Post’s list of the “Best Nonfiction of 2021,” and the New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2021.”

Adam Harris's book The State Must Provide was published in August and reviewed by the New York Times. The State Must Provide was featured in NPR’s “Books We Love—2021.”

Andrea Elliott’s book Invisible Child was published in October. The book was reviewed by the New York Times and the Washington Post and was excerpted as the cover story for the New York Times Magazine. Invisible Child was featured on multiple booklists, including TIME Magazine’s “100 Must-Read Books of 2021” and, “Best Nonfiction Books of 2021,” NPR’s “Books We Love—2021,” the New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2021,” and the Times’ “10 Best Books of 2021.”

Bart Elmore’s book Seed Money was published in October. The book was reviewed by the Washington Post.

In addition to books, we are honored to have supported a number of projects in film, and podcasting. CJ Hunt’s documentary The Neutral Ground premiered at both the Tribeca Film Festival and AFI DOCS before its release on POV on PBS in July. CJ received the Special Jury Mention for the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director at Tribeca, and his film was reviewed favorably by the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, Variety, and the Guardian.

Cecilia Aldarondo’s documentary Landfall also debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival ahead of its release on POV in July. Landfall was reviewed by multiple outlets including the New York Times, Hollywood Reporter, and Deadline. The film was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award.

Trevor Aaronson’s podcast chronicling the life and experiences of Pennsylvanian-born ISIS fighter Russell Dennison, American ISIS, premiered on Audible in July. Trevor wrote about his experiences interviewing Dennison and constructing the podcast for the Intercept, and American ISIS was named one of the best storytelling podcasts by Adweek.

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

• Francesca Mari wrote the cover story for the New York Times Magazine about the dramatic rise of housing prices in cities around the country and how it affects average buyers.
• An excerpt from Andrea Elliott’s book Invisible Child was featured as the cover article for the New York Times Magazine.
• Janet Reitman wrote the cover story for New York Times Magazine about former F.B.I. agent Terry Albury, who was convicted of leaking important documents to the press.
• Jill Filipovic published "How US Abortion Politics Distorts Women's Lives in Conflict Zones" in the New York Review of Books.
• Caleb Gayle wrote the June cover story for the New York Times Magazine about the Tulsa Massacre.
• Visit the New America on COVID-19 page for a full catalog of reporting by New America Fellows and alumni on the coronavirus pandemic.

• Reginald Dwayne Betts was named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow. Dwayne will also be the focus of a forthcoming movie about his life, from his incarceration at 16 to his success as a poet and a lawyer.
• Nikole Hannah-Jones’s book The 1619 Project, which features work from former Fellows Eve Ewing, Clint Smith, Reginald Dwayne Betts, and Trymaine Lee, was published. It was featured on the Washington Post’s list of the “Best Nonfiction of 2021” and debuts as a #1 New York Times bestseller.
• Hao Wu’s film 76 Days won the Emmy for Outstanding Merit in Documentary Filmmaking.
• Joshua Yaffa won the 2021 Orwell Prize in Political Writing for his Fellowship project book Between Two Fires.
• Vann Newkirk’s podcast for the Atlantic, Floodlines, won the 2021 Peabody Award for Podcast and Radio.
• Eve L. Ewing was awarded a United States Artists Fellowship in Writing.
• Caleb Gayle was awarded the seventh annual Matthew Power Literary Reporting Award by New York University's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.
• Molly Crabapple was nominated for two Emmy awards for her animation work on The Zo.
• Nikole Hannah-Jones, Clint Smith, and Reginald Dwayne Betts were included on the 2021 Root 100 list from the Root.
• Justine van der Leun launched a podcast titled Believe Her with Lemonade Media based on her research on the case of Nikki Addimado.
• Keisha N. Blain's book Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019, co-authored with Ibram X. Kendi was shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and Nonfiction. It was also included on the Washington Post’s list of the best nonfiction of 2021.
• Abrahm Lustgarten, won the Science in Society Journalism Award in the series category from the National Association of Science Writers. Abrahm's winning piece, "Where Will Everyone Go? How Climate Refugees Might Move Across International Borders," was published by the New York Times Magazine and ProPublica. The piece also won the Covering Climate Now Journalism Award.
• Jeff Goodell won the Covering Climate Now Journalism Award in Features for his piece “How Climate Change Is Ushering in a New Pandemic Era” for Rolling Stone.
• Sara Hendren won the Science in Society Journalism Award from the National Association of Science Writers in the Books category for her book What Can a Body Do?: How We Meet The Built World. Her book was also a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award in nonfiction.
• Patrick Radden Keefe’s Empire of Pain, George Packer’s Best Last Hope, and Eyal Press’s Dirty Work were featured on the New York Times’ “100 Notable Books of 2021.”