WILLIAMSBURG — Tracy Kidder, the Pulitzer Prize-winning narrative nonfiction author, died Tuesday evening in Boston of lung cancer following a brief illness, his wife, Frances, confirmed. He was 80.
The author and longtime Williamsburg resident delved into more than a few topics throughout his 50-year career as a journalist, ranging from the computer revolution and elementary schools to Civil War refugees and railroads.
A master of narrative nonfiction who turned everyday American lives into literary art, Kidder’s work received several distinctions, including both a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award for his 1981 book, “The Soul of a New Machine,” which chronicled the dawn of microcomputers and the digital age.
Kidder’s work brought him face-to-face with his subjects, and he frequently emphasized making people and places “believable” in his writing.
“It helps to have a person at the center,” Kidder said in a 2019 interview with the Daily Hampshire Gazette, adding that he tends to write about subjects “through people, and then become utterly obsessed with the things that occupy them.”
Closer to home, Northampton, Amherst and Holyoke have also been the subject of his writing. Kidder’s 1999 book “Home Town” delves into the day-to-day life of Northampton, which he personifies as the classic American hometown.
In 2019, he looked back and shared his first impression of Paradise City — and he didn’t exactly describe it as a paradise. He first came to Northampton in the 1960s when he visited a girlfriend at Smith College while studying as an undergraduate at Harvard.
“I couldn’t wait to get out of Northampton,” Kidder said. “It was dingy and rundown. It was the kind of place where most bars had sawdust on the floor.”
His 1985 book “House” tells the story of constructing a house from start to finish in Amherst. His work also brought him inside the classrooms of Holyoke’s Kelly Elementary School for his 1989 book, “Among Schoolchildren.”
Among the many novels featured on the New York Times’ bestseller list is “Mountains Beyond Mountains.” The 2003 book is portrait of the late Dr. Paul Farmer, a Harvard University specialist in infectious diseases who dedicated his life to bringing modern health care to some of the world’s poorest countries.
His countless pieces have also been featured in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Granta, and The New York Times Book Review and The New York Times OpEd page.
Kidder was born in New York City in 1945, but spent his childhood at Oyster Bay, Long Island, where his father practiced law and his mother was a teacher.
In 1967, he received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University. After graduation, he served in the Vietnam War as a lieutenant and received a Bronze Star — a narrative he tells in his 2005 memoir, “My Detachment.” After the war, Kidder headed back to school, this time in the Midwest.
Attending the University of Iowa, where he received his master’s degree, would prove to be a life-changing experience for the young writer. There, he met Dan Wakefield, The Atlantic Monthly’s contributing editor who helped Kidder find a freelance opportunity.
In 1976, Kidder moved to the Pioneer Valley from Long Island, when he bought his Williamsburg home overlooking the Mill River.
Kidder leaves behind his wife and two children.