Winner of The Athenaeum of Philadelphia 1992 Literary Award, given to a volume of general literature written by a Philadelphian; Selected as one of the ten best academic books of the 1990s by readers of Lingua Franca

Named one of the ten best books of 1991 by The New York Times Book Review; Winner of the Eugene M. Kayden Press Book Award for 1991-92; Winner of the 1991 National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism; Selected by the Jewish Book Club

Winner of the Longman-History Today Book of the Year Award

A New York Times Notable Book
Winner of the Wolfson History Prize

Winner of the 1993 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism; Winner of a Commonwealth Club of California gold medal for non-fiction; Selected as a Notable Book of the Year (1993) by The New York Times Book Review

Received one of two Honorable Mentions Certificates for the 1996 Dartmouth Medal; Selected by ALA’s Reference and Adult Services Division as one of 30 Outstanding Reference Sources for 1995; Winner of the 1995 New York Society Library Award for the best book about New York City; Named an outstanding reference book of 1995 by Booklist and by the New York Public Library

Winner of the 1996 Whitbread Biography Award; Winner of the 1996 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography; Winner of the 1996 Duff Cooper Prize

Winner of the 2000 Mattei Dogan Award

Selected by Booklist as one of the Top Ten Books in Religion in 1998; Winner of a 1999 Christianity Today Book Award; Included in Christianity Today’s list of Best Books Published in 1998; Winner of the 1999 Prize for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences given by The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences; Selected by Publishers Weekly as one of the Best Books of 1998; Shortlisted for a 2000 TORGI (Talking Book of the Year) Award, sponsored by The Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Chosen as one of the "Books of Distinction" in the Science and Religion category by the John Templeton Foundation

Co-winner of the 1998 Longman-History Today Book of the Year Award; Co-winner of the 1998 Wolfson Literary Award for History; Winner of the 1998 Whitfield Prize

Named an Outstanding Academic Title by Choice Magazine

Winner of the 1999 Scaglione Prize in Comparative Literature Studies awarded by the Modern Language Association; Selected by Choice as an outstanding academic title for 2000; Winner of the Christian Gauss Award in 2000 from Phi Beta Kappa; Co-winner of the 2001 PEN/Architectural Digest Award for Literary Writing on the Visual Arts; Winner of the College Art Association, Charles Rufus Morey book award

No. 8 on the Washington Post Best-Seller list, October 14, 2001

A Number 1 New York Times Bestseller; USA Today Best-Selling Book (107); Selected as an outstanding book by University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries

Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic title for 2001; Winner of the Association of American Publishers, Inc., Professional and Scholarly Publishing; Honorable Mention award in the Single Volume Reference/Humanities Category; Finalist for the 2001-02 National Jewish Book Award; Selected as a 2002 outstanding book by University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries; Featured at ALA as one of the “Best of the Best from the University Presses: Books you should know about.”

Winner of the 2002 Colonial Dames of America Annual Book Award; Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2003; Named one of the best books of 2002 by Los Angeles Times Book Review; Named a Best Book of 2002—Salt Lake City Tribune; Chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and as a best book for 2002 by the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Washington Post Book World, and Publishers Weekly; A finalist for the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award in biography

A New York Times Bestseller

Selected as an outstanding book by University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in the biography category for books published in 2003; Winner of the 2001-2003 Annibel Jenkins Biography Prize sponsored by the Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies; Winner of the 2004 Bancroft Prize sponsored by Columbia University; Winner of the 2004 Merle Curti Award in intellectual history given by the Organization of American Historians; Won the 2004 John C. Pollock Award for Christian Biography sponsored by the Beeson Divinity School and Samford University; Co-winner of the 2004 Eugene Genovese Best Book in American History Prize sponsored by the Historical Society; Selected as one of the Best Books of 2003 by Atlantic Monthly, Washington Post Book World, Christian Century, Books & Culture, Beliefnet, Publishers Weekly, and Christian Science Monitor; Featured in Preaching magazine as "one of the top ten books every preacher should read"; Selected as an outstanding book by University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries; Winner of the 2005 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Religion; Short-listed by The English-Speaking Union for the Ambassador Book Awards; Won the 2004 Christianity Today Magazine Book Award in the History/Biography category.; Won the Philip Schaff Prize sponsored by the American Society of Church History

Selected as an outstanding book by University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries; A Los Angeles Times Book Review bestseller

-Winner of the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Environment/Ecology/Nature Category
-Received rating of "Outstanding" from 2005 University Press Books Committee
-Winner of the 2005 Connecticut Book Awards in the category of Nonfiction

Received rating of "Outstanding" from members of the 2005 University Press Books Committee

Winner of the 2004 National Jewish Book Award;
Selected by Choice Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2005;
Won Honorable Mention for the 2004 Professional/Scholarly Publishing Division Annual Award Competition in the Religion category;
Selected as a finalist for the 2005 Koret Jewish Book Awards in the History category;
Selected by Publishers Weekly as a Best Book of 2004 in the Religion category;
Co-winner of the American Jewish Historical Society's Saul Viener Prize for the Outstanding Book in American Jewish History, 2003-2004;
Winner of the Weinberg Judaic Studies Institute 2005 Prize for Best Book in American Jewish Studies;
Named a (2004) Los Angeles Times bestseller;
Won Honorable Mention for the 2005 Independent Publisher Book Awards in the Religion Category;
Winner of the American Jewish Historical Society's 2005 Saul Viener Prize for the outstanding book published in a two-year period in the field of American Jewish history;
Received rating of "Outstanding" from members of the 2005 University Press Books Committee

Named a Favorite Book of 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
Selected as a 2005 outstanding book by University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries and featured at ALA as one of the “Best of the Best from the University Presses: Books you should know about.”

2006 Bancroft Prize in American History winner; winner of the 2006 Malcolm Bell, Jr., and Muriel Barrow Bell Award for the best book in Georgia history published in 2005; won Second Honor for the 2006 Mary Lawton Hodges Book Prize

Named a Favorite Book of 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
Selected as a 2005 outstanding book by University Press Books for Public and Secondary School Libraries and featured at ALA as one of the “Best of the Best from the University Presses: Books you should know about.”