Harvard professor Robert Coles, a Pulitzer‑winning child psychiatrist, died Thursday at a hospice in Lincoln, Massachusetts, at age 97. Known for his five‑volume *Children of Crisis* series, he spent decades entering homes across the American South and remote regions to record children’s unfiltered voices. His work reshaped public understanding of race, poverty and moral development.

Coles’ unconventional method—eschewing psychiatric dogma, living with families for months, and relying on tape recordings, crayon drawings and field notes—produced vivid portraits that challenged stereotypes. Volumes 2 and 3 of his series earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1973, while critics labeled his approach “scattershot.” Yet sociologists like David Riesman praised his ability to humanize marginalized groups.

Beyond academia, Coles authored biographies of figures such as Bruce Springsteen, co‑wrote children’s books with Ruby Bridges, and received a MacArthur Fellowship, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the National Humanities Medal. His death closes a chapter on a career that turned children’s stories into cultural touchstones, leaving scholars to preserve his extensive archives.