Jane Garrett, who as an editor at the Alfred A. Knopf publishing house guided seven books to Pulitzer Prizes for history but watched another book lose its prestigious Bancroft Prize over scholars’ criticism of the author’s research, died on Oct. 12 at her home in Middlebury, Vt. She was 88. Ms. Garrett worked at Knopf for 44 years, initially as an editor and special assistant to Alfred Knopf himself, who had a strong devotion to publishing history books. At first she steered his projects to completion, but she soon began acquiring books on her own. In 1973, “People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the History of American Civilization,” by Michael Kammen, became the first of the books edited by Ms. Garrett to win a Pulitzer. Ms. Garrett was at a book party in Boston when she met Alan Taylor, who was starting to work on a book about William Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, N.Y., and the father of the novelist James Fenimore Cooper.

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Persons: Jane Garrett, Alfred A, Bancroft, Anne Eberle, Ms, Garrett, Alfred Knopf, Michael Kammen, Voyagers, Bernard Bailyn, Garrett’s, Robert V, Bruce, Alan Taylor, William Cooper, James Fenimore Cooper Organizations: Knopf, “, Modern American Science Locations: Middlebury , Vt, America, Harvard, Boston, Cooperstown, N.Y