Historic Hotels of America® is pleased to announce that Daniel James Brown has been named the recipient of the 2025 Historic Hotels of America Historian of the Year Award.

Historic Hotels of America is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing and celebrating the finest Historic Hotels in the United States of America. Each year, the program honors the nation’s finest historic hotels, hoteliers, and historians through the Historic Hotels Annual Awards of Excellence.

Brown will be presented with the 2025 Historic Hotels of America Historian of the Year Award at the 2025 Historic Hotels Annual Conference, in front of an audience of historic preservationists and hoteliers, including owners, general managers, and other senior decision-makers representing many of the finest historic hotels from around the world. The conference will be held October 28-31 at the historic Fairmont Olympic Hotel (1924) in Seattle, Washington.

The Historic Hotels of America Historian of the Year Award is presented annually to an individual or team who has made unique contributions to the research and presentation of history, and whose work has encouraged a wide discussion and greater understanding of the history and culture of the United States and the world. Brown is an award-winning narrative non-fiction writer. He is best-known for The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, a #1 New York Times Bestseller that served as the inspiration for the PBS documentary “The Boys of ‘36” and was adapted as a film directed by George Clooney.

Brown's other books include Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894, The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of a Donner Party Bride, and his second New York Times bestseller, Facing the Mountain: A True Story of Japanese American Heroes in World War ll. Brown was recently honored with the 2025 Stephen E. Ambrose Oral History Award from Rutgers Living History Society.

In his captivating presentations of historic events, Brown shares the remarkable stories of real people, bringing history to life and leaving audiences inspired. The Boys in the Boat was named Adult Nonfiction Book of 2013 by the American Booksellers Association and was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction from the American Library Association. The book spent more than three years on the New York Times bestseller list, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of 2013, and was the nonfiction finalist for the 2014 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. A 2023 American biographical sports drama film, The Boys in the Boat, was produced and directed by George Clooney from a screenplay by Mark L. Smith, based on the 2013 book.

Brown grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and attended the University of California at Berkeley. He taught writing at San Jose State University and Stanford University before becoming a technical writer and editor, first in Silicon Valley and later at Microsoft. He now writes narrative nonfiction books full time. His primary interest as a writer is in bringing compelling historical events to life as vividly and accurately as he can. Brown lives outside Seattle with his wife, two daughters, and an assortment of cats, dogs, chickens, and honeybees. When he is not writing, he is likely to be birding, gardening, fly fishing, reading American history, or chasing bears away from the beehives.

“We are honored to recognize Daniel James Brown for his work as a best seller author and historian, especially for his extensive work over the two decades as a narrative nonfiction writer in bringing compelling historical events to life vividly and accurately,” said Lawrence P. Horwitz, Executive Vice President of Historic Hotels of America and Historic Hotels Worldwide. “This award recognizes Brown’s work as an author to increase the recognition, insights, and introspection about the history of the United States of America.”

“I am deeply honored to receive this award from Historic Hotels of America. I have long had an interest in historic hotels, not only for their often-ornate beauty but also for the rich stories that have unfolded in their lobbies, their bars and dining rooms, and their guest rooms,” said Brown. “Claremont Resort & Club in Berkeley, Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle, InterContinental Mark Hopkins in San Francisco, and the Omni Parker House in Boston—these are just a few of the historic hotels that have left their mark on me and to which I return whenever I can, not in spite of their age but because of their age.”

The Historic Hotels Annual Conference is the only global educational conference for owners, general managers, asset managers, and other senior leaders and decision makers of historic hotels. Click here to learn more and register.

About Historic Hotels of America®

Historic Hotels of America® is the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for recognizing and celebrating the finest historic hotels from across the United States of America. The National Trust for Historic Preservation was chartered by U.S. Congress in 1949 and is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is leading the movement to save places where our history happened. To be nominated and selected for membership in this prestigious program, a hotel must be at least 50 years old; designated by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark or listed in or eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places; and recognized as having historical significance. Of the more than 300 historic hotels inducted into Historic Hotels of America from 43 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all historic hotels faithfully preserve their authenticity, sense of place, and architectural integrity. For more information, please visit HistoricHotels.org.

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Daniel James Brown Named 2025 Historic Hotels of America Historian of the Year