John McPhee
Born	John Angus McPhee (1931-03-08)March 8, 1931 (age 94) Princeton, New Jersey, U.S.
Education	Princeton University Magdelene College, Cambridge
Occupation	Writer
Spouse	Yolanda Whitman (second wife)
Children	4 (includingJenny McPhee,Martha McPhee, andLaura McPhee)

John Angus McPhee (born March 8, 1931) is an American author. He is considered one of the pioneers ofcreative nonfiction. He is a four-time finalist for thePulitzer Prize in the category General Nonfiction, and he won that award on the fourth occasion in 1999 forAnnals of the Former World (a collection of five books, including two of his previous Pulitzer finalists).^[1] In 2008, he received theGeorge Polk Career Award for his "indelible mark on American journalism during his nearly half-century career".^[2] Since 1974, McPhee has been the Ferris Professor of Journalism atPrinceton University.^[3]

McPhee has lived inPrinceton, New Jersey, for most of his life. He was born in Princeton, the son of thePrinceton University athletic department's physician, Harry McPhee. He was educated atPrinceton High School, then spent apostgraduate year atDeerfield Academy, before graduating from Princeton University in 1953 with a senior thesis titled "Skimmer Burns" and spending a year atMagdalene College, Cambridge.^[4][5][6] McPhee was a member ofUniversity Cottage Club while a student at Princeton.^[7]

While at Princeton, McPhee went to New York once or twice a week to appear as the juvenile panelist on the radio and television quiz programTwenty Questions.^[8] One of his roommates at Princeton was 1951Heisman Trophy winnerDick Kazmaier.^[9]

Twice married, McPhee is the father of four daughters from his first marriage toPryde Brown: the novelistsJenny McPhee andMartha McPhee, photographerLaura McPhee, and architecture historian Sarah McPhee.^[10][11]

McPhee's writing career began atTime magazine, and led to a long association with the weekly magazineThe New Yorker from 1963^[12] to the present. Many of his 31 books include material originally written forThe New Yorker, where he has been a staff writer since 1965.^[13]

UnlikeTom Wolfe andHunter Thompson, who helped kick-start the "new journalism" of the 1960s, McPhee produced a gentler, more literary style of writing that more thoroughly incorporated techniques from fiction. He avoided Wolfe's and Thompson'sstream-of-consciousness style, using detailed description of characters and vivid language to make his writing lively and personal, even when it focused on obscure or difficult topics. He is highly regarded by fellow writers for the quality, quantity, and diversity of his literary output.^[14][15]

Reflecting his personal interests, McPhee's subjects are highly eclectic. He has written pieces onlifting-body development (The Deltoid Pumpkin Seed), the psyche and experience of a nuclear physicist (The Curve of Binding Energy), a New Jersey wilderness area (The Pine Barrens), theUnited States Merchant Marine (Looking for a Ship),farmers' markets (Giving Good Weight), the movement of coal across America ("Coal Train" inUncommon Carriers), the shifting flow of theMississippi River ("Atchafalaya" inThe Control of Nature),geology (in several books), as well as a short book entirely aboutoranges. One of his most widely read books,Coming into the Country, is about the three faces of Alaska: the urban, the rural, and theAlaskan wilderness.

McPhee has profiled a number of famous people, including conservationistDavid Brower inEncounters with the Archdruid, and the youngBill Bradley, whom McPhee followed closely during Bradley's four-yearbasketball career atPrinceton University.

McPhee has been a nonfiction writing instructor at Princeton University since 1974, having taught generations of aspiring undergraduate writers as the Ferris Professor of Journalism.^[3][16] Many of his students have achieved distinction:^[11]

• Joel Achenbach, writer for theWashington Post and author of seven books^[17]
• Timothy Ferriss, entrepreneur and author ofThe 4-Hour Workweek andThe 4-Hour Body^[18]
• Peter Hessler, contributor toThe New Yorker and author of three books about China
• Jim Kelly, former managing editor ofTime magazine
• Richard Preston, author ofThe Hot Zone and other books about infectious disease epidemics and bioterrorism
• David Remnick, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, and editor-in-chief ofThe New Yorker since 1998
• Eric Schlosser, author ofFast Food Nation and other books
• Richard Stengel, former managing editor ofTime magazine
• Jennifer Weiner, best-selling author ofGood In Bed,In Her Shoes, and other novels
• Robert Wright, former senior editor atThe New Republic and columnist forTime,Slate and theNew York Times, and author of award-winning books

McPhee has received many literary honors, including the Award in Literature from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters and the 1999Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, awarded forAnnals of the Former World.^[1] In 1978 he received aLittD fromBates College,^{[citation needed]} in 2009 an honorary Doctorate of Letters fromYale University,^{[citation needed]} in 2010 an honorary Doctor of Letters from Lehigh University,^{[citation needed]} and in 2012 an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters fromAmherst College.^{[citation needed]}

• Pulitzer Prize (1999) forAnnals of the Former World^[1]
• Award in Literature from theAmerican Academy of Arts and Letters (1977)
• Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1993)^[19]
• Finalist,National Book Award (science) forThe Curve of Binding Energy^[20]
• Nominated,National Book Award (science), forEncounters with the Archdruid
• Wallace Stegner Award (2011) for "sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West through literature, art, history, lore, or an understanding of the West".
• National Book Critics Circle Award Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement Award (2017)^[21]

• "Progression: how and what?". The Writing Life.The New Yorker.87 (36): 36,39–42. November 14, 2011.
• "Structure: beyond the picnic-table crisis". The Writing Life.The New Yorker.88 (43):46–55. January 14, 2013.
• "Draft No. 4: replacing the words in boxes". The Writing Life.The New Yorker.89 (11):32–38. April 29, 2013.
• "The Orange Trapper: compulsions are hard to explain". The Sporting Scene.The New Yorker.89 (19):30–34. July 1, 2013.
• "Tabula rasa: volume one". Personal History.The New Yorker.95 (44):46–55. January 13, 2020.

• Books by John McPhee
• Looking for a Story: A Complete Guide to the Writings of John McPhee by Noel Rubinton, Princeton University Press 2025ISBN 978-0691244921

• Weltzein, O. Alan and Susan N. Maher (2003).Coming into McPhee Country: John McPhee and the Art of Literary Criticism.ISBN 978-0-87480-746-2.

Wikiquote has quotations related toJohn McPhee.

• Publisher's official web site
• Peter Hessler (Spring 2010)."John McPhee, The Art of Nonfiction No. 3".The Paris Review. Spring 2010 (192).
• John McPhee interviewed on WPRB Princeton 103.3 FM'sDiscourse onYouTube
• John McPhee atIMDb

• 1931 births
• Alumni of Magdalene College, Cambridge
• American expatriates in the United Kingdom
• American non-fiction environmental writers
• Deerfield Academy alumni
• John Burroughs Medal recipients
• Living people
• Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters
• Writers from Princeton, New Jersey
• Princeton High School (New Jersey) alumni
• Princeton University alumni
• Princeton University faculty
• Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction winners
• The New Yorker people
• 20th-century American non-fiction writers
• 21st-century American non-fiction writers
• The New Yorker staff writers

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