Mr. Wright, of Austin, won for The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11, a penetrating analysis of how Islamic fundamentalism has reshaped the modern world.

"To be singled out at any time for such an honor is humbling, of course, but especially after such an extraordinary year for important, nonfiction books," he said by e-mail. "So many journalists have risked - or lost - their lives in the course of their attempts to enlighten the American public about the critical historical moment we find ourselves in, and I'd like to take this opportunity to salute my colleagues and thank them for their efforts."

In awarding The Journal its highest journalistic honor, the Pulitzer board said the paper had brought about “widespread change in corporate America.”

The New York Times won the feature writing prize for a series called “An Imam in America,” written by Andrea Elliott, that focused on Sheik Reda Shata, the leader of a mosque in Brooklyn, and his struggle to reconcile Muslim tradition with American life. Ms. Elliott told colleagues in a newsroom ceremony that the Muslim community had at times been so difficult to penetrate that she felt she was covering “the no one will talk to me beat.”

The Boston Globe won for national reporting for articles by Charlie Savage documenting that President Bush had quietly disregarded portions of more than 750 laws enacted by Congress through “signing statements” that asserted that he had the power to bypass certain legal provisions because they conflicted with his interpretation of the Constitution.