What was the title of Herman Wouk’s 1952 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel?

The Caine Mutiny was Herman Wouk’s 1952 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Published in 1951, the novel is set aboard the fictional minesweeper USS Caine during World War II. It follows the crew’s difficult relationship with Lieutenant Commander Philip Queeg and culminates in a controversial decision to relieve him of command.

The story examines military authority, obedience, fear, leadership, and the difference between legal justification and moral certainty. Its courtroom section became especially famous because it turns the shipboard crisis into a debate over responsibility under pressure.

Wouk based the novel partly on his own service in the United States Navy during World War II. The book was adapted into the 1954 film The Caine Mutiny, starring Humphrey Bogart as Queeg, though the novel offers more interior detail and courtroom analysis.