| Year | Recipient | University | Title |
| 2012 |
John Tutino |
Georgetown |
Making a New World |
| 2011 |
Daniel Carpenter |
Harvard |
Reputation and Power |
| 2010 |
Randolph Roth |
Ohio State |
American Homicide |
| 2009 |
Sigrid Schmalzer |
University Mass @ Amherst |
The People's Peking Man |
| 2008 |
George Steinmetz |
University of Michigan |
The Devil's Handwriting |
| 2007 |
Nancy McLane |
Duke University |
Freedom is Not Enough |
| 2006 |
Madeleine Zelin |
Columbia |
The Merchants of Zigong |
| 2005 |
Peter H. Lindert |
University of California-Davis |
Growing Public |
| 2004 |
Frank Tobias Higbie |
UCLA |
Indispensable Outcasts |
| 2003 |
Dirk Hoerder |
Arizona State |
|
| 2002 |
Deborah Cohen |
Northwestern University |
The War Come Home |
| 2001 |
Steve Hochstadt |
Illinois College |
Mobility and Modernity |
| 2000 |
James Z. Lee and Wang Feng |
Hong Kong University and U. of Michigan |
One Quarter of Humanity |
| 1999 |
Jose C. Moya |
UCLA |
Cousins and Strangers |
| 1998 |
Rogers Smith |
University of Pennsylvania |
Civic Ideals |
| 1997 |
Philip Hoffman |
California Institute of Tech. |
Growth in a Traditional Society |
| 1996 |
Eric A. Johnson |
University of Wyoming |
Urbanization and Crime |
| 1995 |
Karen Barkey |
Columbia |
Bandits and Bureaucrats |
| 1994 |
Susan Pederson |
Columbia |
Family, Dependence, and the Origins of the Welfare State |
| 1993 |
Theda Skocpol |
Harvard |
Proctecting Soldiers and Mothers |
| 1992 |
Ramon A. Gutierrez |
University of Wisconson-Madison |
When Jesus Came, the Corn Mothers Went Away |
| 1991 |
Claudia Goldin |
Harvard |
Understanding the Gender Gap |
| 1990 |
Allen Steinberg |
University of Iowa |
The Transformation of Criminal Justice |
| 1989 |
Kenneth Winkle |
University of Wisconson-Madison |
The Politics of Community |
| 1988 |
Steven Ruggles |
University of Minnesota |
Prolonged Connections |
| 1987 |
Terrence J. McDonald |
LSU |
The Parameters of Urban Fiscal Policy |
| 1986 |
Allan Greer |
|
Peasant, Lord and Merchant |
| 1985 |
Philip McMichael |
Cornell University |
Settlers and the Agrarian Question |