8:46 a.m., April 13, 2010----David Hoffman, a University of Delaware alumnus and former editor of The Review, has received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for general nonfiction for his book The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy.

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The $10,000 prize goes to a “distinguished and appropriately documented book of nonfiction by an American author,” and Hoffman's book was cited as “a well documented narrative that examines the terrifying doomsday competition between two superpowers and how weapons of mass destruction still imperil humankind.”

Published by Doubleday, The Dead Hand was described by a critic in The New York Times as an “authoritative and chilling new history of the cold war arms race.... What's particularly valuable about Mr. Hoffman's book, however, is the skill with which he narrows his focus (and his indefatigable reporting) down to a few essential areas.”

A former senior editor of The Washington Post, Hoffman has returned to his alma mater several times, most recently last fall to speak to classes taught by Ralph Begleiter, Rosenberg Professor of Communication and distinguished journalist in residence, and to speak to a book luncheon hosted by Area Studies faculty member Nancy Nobile.

“I'm very proud of this outstanding international journalist, who has been a friend and traveling companion since he covered the White House in the 1980s,” Begleiter said.

For the Washington Post, Hoffman covered the White House during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and was later a diplomatic correspondent and Jerusalem correspondent. He served as Moscow bureau chief and later foreign editor and assistant managing editor for foreign news.

Hoffman, who attended UD from 1971-76 and majored in political science, is married to UD alumna Carole Fleming Hoffman.

Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson