The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian-American newspaper publisher. While it is now the most prestigious award in American letters, its early years were controversial. Pulitzer’s original instructions for the fiction prize (then called the 'Novel' prize) stated it should be awarded to the work that best depicted 'the wholesome atmosphere of American life' and 'the highest standard of American manners.' This led to several clashes between the jury and the conservative board of trustees. In 1921, Edith Wharton became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for 'The Age of Innocence.' Over the decades, the criteria shifted away from 'wholesomeness' to focus on artistic merit and social impact, recognizing writers like Ernest Hemingway, Alice Walker, and Cormac McCarthy.