they are dan fagin, sheri fink, fred kaplan, jonathan katz. unable to do as tonight is david finkel. david was with us last night for an amazing program, the first time we've had a public program and discussion associate with this event so that the public can enjoy the talent and insight of our finalists and our guests to the library is honored to be the home of the bernstein award, and have this opportunity to recognize great journalistic work. the award-winning group of 2014 finalists example for what the award is all about. writing on topics of hurricane katrina to haiti and corporate pollution, the military strategy and returning soldiers struggling with ptsd, the commitment to actually reporting deepened our understanding of the world and inspires us all. we all know in this day in which the delivery platforms, the business models of journalism and of the kind of work that so many of us in the room are engaged in, our transforming. they need, societies need for the kind of work this award recognizes, to inform the body politic, to be able

[applause] >> sheri fink. [applause] >> thank you very much. and running away with the czech for david finkel. >> thanks very much. >> congratulations to all the finalists, to the great work you have been engaged in. to dan, thank you again. to helen bernstein, a manner -- weakest you all this evening to be the new information award. thank you all for coming. please stay and enjoy yourself. [applause] [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> visit booktv.org to watch any of the programs you see here on line. tied the author or book title on the upper left side of the page and click search. you can share anything you see on booktv.org by clicking share on the upper left side of the page and selecting the format. booktv streams live online for 48 hours with tom nonfiction books and authors. booktv.org. >> you are watching booktv. next, the first african-american regimen to fight in world war i by jeffrey sammons, this 369th infantry regiment and the jeffrey sammons examines the regiment's leadership, its actions in the field of battle and the chal

sheri fink is a correspondent at "the new york times." or news reporting has been awarded the pulitzer prize, the national magazine award and the overseas press club lowell thomas award, among other journalistic prizes. a former relief worker in disaster and conflict zones, she received her m.d. and a ph.d from stanford university. her first book, war hospital am a true story of surgery and survival, is about medical professions, professionals, under siege during the genocide in bosnia-herzegovina. so let us now proceed and if you all will join me up here, our finalists. [applause] >> sherry, you are over here. jonathan, next. and that handsome guy at the end, that's fred kaplan. okay. long-form journalism, which as i say has been very important part of what journalists like to think of as their contribution to a better society. there are a lot of people who say it's much, much tougher today to get long-form journalism done and then present it. first of all come is a very expensive form of journalism. i was at a newspaper the did a great

sheri fink deals with the complicated medical, ethical story with great understanding. all told it is a dramatic story. people -- and forgettable characters and compelling lessons for being prepared for a future natural disaster. thank you for your service, author david finkel. david finkel embedded with the men of infantry battalion during the u.s. military surge in iraq. based upon that grueling 15 months experience. david created an into men, harrowing depiction of the life-and-death american soldiers on the battlefields. david has again embedded with veterans of the same infantry battalion but this time the battlefield is the home front and the challenges, damage done to mind, spirit and body during a lengthy iraq campaign and repeated deployments. we see returning soldiers trying to put their lives back together. many suffered from traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder. the twinkie inconclusive war produced -- excuse me -- produced an array of suicides to alcohol addiction, to domestic violence, unemployment and long-term disability. equally com