The Book Prize Index

Strength in What Remains: A Journey of Remembrance and Forgiveness

Tracy Kidder

Tracy Kidder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and author of the bestsellers The Soul of a New Machine, House, and the enduring classic Mountains Beyond Mountains, has been described by the Baltimore Sun as the "master of the non-fiction narrative." In this new book, Kidder gives us the superb story of a hero for our time. Strength in What Remains is a wonderfully written, inspiring account of one man's remarkable American journey and of the ordinary people who helped him--a brilliant testament to the power of will and of second chances.Deo arrives in America from Burundi in search of a new life. Having survived a civil war and genocide, plagued by horrific dreams, he lands at JFK airport with two hundred dollars, no English, and no contacts. He ekes out a precarious existence delivering groceries, living in Central Park, and learning English by reading dictionaries in bookstores.

Memoir & AutobiographyMemoir & Autobiography · medium confidenceMemoir & Autobiography81 signalsLlm Classifier: Memoir & Autobiography -> Memoir & AutobiographyKeyword Classifier: American History -> American HistoryKeyword Classifier: Nature & Environment -> Nature & EnvironmentTravel, Exploration & Place

Award History

0 wins · 2 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current InterestMajor2009FinalistSecondary source
National Book Critics Circle Award for NonfictionMajor2009FinalistSecondary source
View all award history (2)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    • Deo75%

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

    These suggestions did not meet the normal display threshold and are more likely to be wrong.

    • JFK airport62%
    • Central Park48%
    • Burundi52%

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    No argument inferred with sufficient confidence.

    This suggestion did not meet the normal display threshold and is more likely to be wrong.

    The memoir presents forgiveness and remembrance, together with will and “second chances,” as enabling a person who survives genocide to build a new life in America.

    Model confidence 58%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    25 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 78%.