Tracy Kidder, Pulitzer-winning author who turned unlikely subjects into bestsellers, dies at 80

Tracy Kidder, an award-winning narrative nonfiction writer who turned everything from computer engineering to life in a nursing home into unexpected bestsellers, has died. He was 80. Kidder’s longtime publisher Random House confirmed his death in a statement Wednesday. Kidder won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for his 1981 work “The Soul of a New Machine,” which delved into the work of a fledgling computer company long before most people cared about the inner workings of Silicon Valley. Over the ensuing decades, Kidder immersed himself in worlds he was previously unfamiliar with, including life in a fifth-grade classroom and how two friends maintained their dignity in a nursing home.