The Newberry Library and The Pattis Family Foundation are pleased to announce the winner of the annual Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award, which celebrates works that transform public understanding of Chicago, its history, and its people. This year’s award recognizes author Scott W. Berg’s The Burning of the World: The Great Chicago Fire and the War for a City’s Soul, a gripping and deeply researched account of our city’s most destructive catastrophe and the long process of rebuilding in its wake. Berg’s book has been lauded by The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly.
“Scott Berg’s book is a compelling narrative of the Great Fire and provides new insight into how Chicago’s Gilded Age story has been told,” said Astrida Orle Tantillo, President and Librarian of the Newberry. “Every Chicagoan is familiar with the fire and how it transformed Chicago for decades to come. The Burning of the World shows in dramatic ways the importance of re-visiting this history.”
Born and raised in the Twin Cities, Berg holds a BA in Architecture from the University of Minnesota, an MA from Miami University of Ohio, and an MFA in Creative Writing from George Mason University, where he now teaches publishing, writing, and literature. He is the author of Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles L’Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C. and 38 Nooses: Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier’s End.
“I am honored and surprised and thrilled and very, very grateful,” said Berg. “The Newberry Library has been doing the work of Chicago history for a whole lot longer than I have, and I’m flabbergasted to be selected for this award. In a time of uncertain funding for important academic and creative endeavors, the generous support provided by Lisa and Mark Pattis is a wonderful affirmation that books are still and forever part of the American cultural bedrock.”
In addition to honoring Berg, who will receive a $25,000 prize, the juried panel also recognizes Larry A. McClellan, author of Onward to Chicago: Freedom Seekers and the Underground Railroad in Northeastern Illinois, and Sandra Steinbrecher and The Salt Shed: The Transformation of a Chicago Landmark. Both McClellan and Steinbrecher will receive awards of $2,500.
Mark Pattis of The Pattis Family Foundation commented: “With the selection of The Burning of the World as this year’s award recipient, the Newberry Library highlights a work that broadens the understanding of a well-known moment in Chicago’s history. We congratulate Mr. Berg and the other authors recognized by the selection committee. We are delighted to see works on a variety of topics and are grateful to the Newberry and the members of the selection committee for their dedication to the selection process.”
The Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award is open to writers working in a variety of genres, including history, biography, social sciences, poetry, drama, graphic novels, and fiction—all relating to Chicago. Thomas Leslie received the 2024 Pattis Award for Chicago Skyscrapers 1934-1986: How Technology, Politics, Finance, & Race Reshaped the City. Toya Wolfe received the 2023 Pattis Award for Last Summer on State Street, and Dawn Turner received the inaugural award in 2022 for Three Girls from Bronzeville.
The presentation of the 2025 Pattis Family Foundation Chicago Book Award will take place at a free, public event at the Newberry Library on Saturday, September 20, 2025, where all three recipients will be recognized and speak about their work. The event will also serve as a celebration of the power of storytelling and the city of Chicago, with a lineup of speakers sharing their own Chicago stories. More details about the event will be made available at www.newberry.org soon.
