2003 - Richard Lachmann, Capitalists in Spite of Themselves: Elite Coonflict and Economic Transitions in Early Modern Europe (Oxford University Press, 2000)
2000 - Charles Tilly, Durable Inequality (University of California Press, 1998)
1999 - Randal Collins, The Sociology of Philosophies: A Global Theory of Intellectual Change (Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 1998)
1998 - John Markoff, Abolition of Feudalism: Peasants, Lords and Legislators in the French Revolution (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996) Honorable Mention: Kathryn Edin and Laura Lein, Making Ends Meet (Russell Sage Foundation, 1997); Sharon Hays, The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood (Yale University Press, 1996); Erik Olin Wright, Class Counts (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
1997 - Melvin L. Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro, Black Wealth/White Wealth: A New Perspective on Racial Inequality (Routledge, 1995) Honorable Mention: Diane Vaughan, The Challenger Launch Decision: Risky Technology, Culture, and Deviance at NASA (University of Chicago Press, 1996)
1996 - Murray Milner, Jr., Status and Sacredness: A General Theory of Status Relations and an Analysis of Indian Culture (Oxford University Press, 1994)
1995 - Nancy A. Denton and Douglas S. Massey, American Apartheid (Harvard University Press, 1993); and James B. McKee, Sociology and the Race Problem (University of Illinois Press, 1993)
1994 - Mitchell Duneier, Slim's Table (University of Chicago Press, 1992)
1993 - Jack Goldstone, Revolution and Rebellion in the Early Modern World (University of California Press, 1990)
1992 - James S. Coleman, Foundations of Social Theory (Harvard University Press, 1990)
1991 - Andrew Abbott, The System of Professions: An Essay on the Division of Expert Labor (University of Chicago Press, 1988)
1990 - John R. Logan and Harvey L. Molotch, Urban Fortunes: The Political Economy of Place (University of California Press, 1987) Special Recognition to Kim Scheppele, Legal Secrets: Equality and Efficiency in the Common Law (University of Chicago Press, 1988)
1989 - Charles Tilly, The Contentious French (Harvard University Press, 1986)
1988 - Michael Mann, The Sources of Social Power, Volume 1 (Cambridge University Press, 1986)
1987 - Andrew G. Walder, Communist Neo-Traditionalism: Work and Authority in Chinese Industry (University of California Press, 1986)
1986 - Aldon D. Morris, Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change (Free Press, 1984); and Lenore J. Weitzman, The Divorce Revolution: The Unexpected Social and Economic Consequences for Women and Children in American (Free Press, 1985)