Max Perry Mueller's "Wakara’s America: The Life and Legacy of a Native Founder of the American West" — a groundbreaking biography that recenters the history of the American West through Indigenous leadership, diplomacy and resistance — has been named a finalist for the Plutarch Award, one of the most distinguished honors in the field of biography.
“The Plutarch Award is unique in that it is judged by biographers themselves,” Mueller said. “To be recognized by peers who understand the demands of the craft — archival depth, narrative structure, and interpretive insight — is an extraordinary honor.”
Presented annually by the Biographers International Organization, the Plutarch Award recognizes the best biography published in English and is judged exclusively by a panel of accomplished biographers. Established in 2013 and named for the ancient Greek writer Plutarch, the award has quickly become the premier international prize dedicated solely to the craft of biography. Past winners have included "The Mystery of Charles Dickens," by A. N. Wilson; "Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom," by David W. Blight; and "Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder," by Caroline Fraser, reflecting the award’s breadth and its role in defining the contemporary field of life writing.
In its citation, the selection committee praised the book’s originality and scholarly ambition, writing: “In startlingly innovative fashion, insisting that Native American history and biography deserve an entirely new approach, Max Perry Mueller limns the Native chief Wakara, an elusive but central figure in the shaping of the American Southwest.”
Being named a finalist places "Wakara’s America" among a select group of works recognized for exceptional research, narrative power and originality. Each year, judges evaluate roughly 200 biographies spanning a wide range of subjects and approaches, ultimately selecting a shortlist that represents the highest standards of the genre.
Often described as the highest honor in biography judged by practitioners of the form, the Plutarch Award highlights works that combine rigorous archival scholarship with compelling storytelling and broad cultural significance.
"Wakara’s America" offers a groundbreaking account of the Ute leader Wakara (ca. 1815–1855), who was among the most influential and feared men in the 19th century American West. He was famed as a fierce warrior, a merciless trader of Indian slaves, and history’s greatest horse thief. Mueller illuminates Wakara’s complex and sometimes paradoxical story, revealing a man who both helped build the settler American West and defended Native sovereignty. By centering Native perspectives and challenging conventional narratives of western expansion, the book contributes to a growing body of scholarship reshaping the field of American history.
The winner of this year’s Plutarch Award will be announced at the annual Biographers International Conference, May 28-29, in New York City.
