In 1991 the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice in Pittsburgh awarded Zinn the Thomas Merton Award for his activism and work on national and international issues that transform our world. For his leadership in the Peace Movement, Zinn received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award in 1996. In 1998 he received the Eugene V. Debs Award, the Firecracker Alternative Booksellers Award in the Politics category for "The Zinn Reader: Writings on Disobedience and Democracy", and the Lannan Literary Award for nonfiction. The following year he won the Upton Sinclair Award, which honors those whose work illustrates an abiding commitment to social justice and equality.