UW to Host Pulitzer Prize Winner Jefferson Cowie Wednesday

The Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research at the University of Wyoming will host Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Jefferson Cowie for a distinguished lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4, in UW's Agriculture Auditorium. The lecture also will be streamed on WyoCast.

Cowie's work in social and political history focuses on how class, inequality and labor shape American politics and culture. The Nation magazine described him as "one of our most commanding interpreters of recent American experience."

His most recent book, "Freedom's Dominion: A Saga of White Resistance to Federal Power," won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 2023. "Freedom's Dominion" tells the dramatic tale of generations of local fights against the federal government that prop up a particular version of American freedom: the freedom to oppress others. Reviewers have called it "magisterial," written with "eloquence and with brilliance" and Cowie's "most extraordinary book yet."

Cowie is the author of three other books. "The Great Exception: The New Deal and the Limits of American Politics" was released in early 2016 and attempts to reinterpret a wide swath of American political history in the 20th century. "Stayin' Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class" draws together labor, politics and popular culture into a narrative about the decline of class in American political culture. "Capital Moves: RCA's Seventy-Year Quest for Cheap Labor" charts the relocation of one firm through four different cities, two countries and a great deal of social upheaval.

In addition to his scholarship, Cowie's essays and opinion pieces have appeared in The New York Times, Time, Foreign Affairs, the Chronicle of Higher Education, American Prospect, Politico, Democracy, The New Republic, Inside Higher Ed, Dissent and other popular outlets. He has appeared in a variety of media outlets, including CNN's "The Seventies," C-Span's "Booknotes" and NPR's "Weekend Edition" as well documentaries, podcasts and radio broadcasts.

He also is a 2024 Guggenheim Fellow in the Creative Arts and was named a spring 2025 Fellow for the American Academy in Berlin.

The UW lecture by Cowie is free and open to the public. The Wyoming Institute for Humanities Research has purchased copies of "Freedom's Dominion" to give away upon request, and Cowie will be available for a book signing after the lecture.

To request a book or parking pass for the event, email [email protected].