National Book Award
The National Book Awards is the most important literary prize in the United States, presented annually for the best book by a living US citizen published in the US.
The awards have been presented since 1950 in at least one category, and is presently awarded in each of four categories: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and young people's literature. Over the years, awards in several categories have been retired or subsumed into other categories.
The winners, selected in each category by five-member, independent judging panels, each receive a US$ 10,000 cash prize and a crystal sculpture. The National Book Foundation administers the awards.
Winners of the National Book Awards
Current categories
Fiction
Nonfiction
| 1950 | Ralph L. Rusk | Ralph Waldo Emerson (article on Ralph Waldo Emerson) |
| 1951 | Newton Arvin | Herman Melville (article on Herman Melville) |
| 1952 | Rachel Carson | The Sea Around Us |
| 1953 | Bernard A. De Voto | The Course of Empire |
| 1954 | Bruce Catton | A Stillness at Appomattox |
| 1955 | Joseph Wood Krutch | The Measure of Man |
| 1956 | Herbert Kubly | An American in Italy |
| 1957 | George F. Kennan | Russia Leaves the War |
| 1958 | Catherine Drinker Bowen | The Lion and the Throne (article on Edward Coke) |
| 1959 | J. Christopher Herold | Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame De Stael |
| 1960 | Richard Ellmann | James Joyce (article on James Joyce} |
| 1961 | William L. Shirer | The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich |
| 1962 | Lewis Mumford | The City in History: Its Origins, its Transformations and its Prospects |
| 1963 | Leon Edel | Henry James, Vol. II: The Conquest of London, Henry James, Vol. III: The Middle Years |
| 1984 | Robert V. Remini | Andrew Jackson & the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845 (article on Andrew Jackson) |
| 1985 | J. Anthony Lukas | Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families |
| 1986 | Barry Lopez | Arctic Dreams |
| 1987 | Richard Rhodes | The Making of the Atom Bomb |
| 1988 | Neil Sheehan | A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam (article on John Paul Vann) |
| 1989 | Thomas L. Friedman | From Beirut to Jerusalem |
| 1990 | Ron Chernow | The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance |
| 1991 | Orlando Patterson | Freedom |
| 1992 | Paul Monette | Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story |
| 1993 | Gore Vidal | United States: Essays 1952-1992 |
| 1994 | Sherwin B. Nuland | How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter |
| 1995 | Tina Rosenberg | The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism |
| 1996 | James Carroll | An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War that Came Between Us |
| 1997 | Joseph J. Ellis | American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson |
| 1998 | Edward Ball | Slaves in the Family |
| 1999 | John W. Dower | Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II |
| 2000 | Nathaniel Philbrick | In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex |
| 2001 | Andrew Solomon | The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression |
| 2002 | Robert A. Caro | Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson |
| 2003 | Carlos Eire | Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy |
| 2004 | Kevin Boyle | Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age |
Poetry
| 1950 | William Carlos Williams | Paterson: Book III and Selected Poems |
| 1951 | Wallace Stevens | The Auroras of Autumn |
| 1952 | Marianne Moore | Collected Poems |
| 1953 | Archibald MacLeish | Collected Poems, 1917-1952 |
| 1954 | Conrad Aiken | Collected Poems |
| 1955 | Wallace Stevens | The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens |
| 1956 | W.H. Auden | The Shield of Achilles |
| 1957 | Richard Wilbur | Things of the World |
| 1958 | Robert Penn Warren | Promises: Poems, 1954-1956 |
| 1959 | Theodore Roethke | Words for the Wind |
| 1960 | Robert Lowell | Life Studies |
| 1961 | Randall Jarrell | The Woman at the Washington Zoo |
| 1962 | Alan Dugan | Poems |
| 1963 | William Stafford | Traveling Through the Dark |
| 1964 | John Crowe Ransom | Selected Poems |
| 1965 | Theodore Roethke | The Far Field |
| 1966 | James Dickey | Buckdancer's Choice: Poems |
| 1967 | James Merrill | Nights and Days |
| 1968 | Robert Bly | The Light Around the Body |
| 1969 | John Berryman | His Toy, His Dream, His Rest |
| 1970 | Elizabeth Bishop | The Complete Poems |
| 1971 | Mona Van Duyn | To See, To Take |
| 1972 | Howard Moss | Selected Poems |
| 1972 | Frank O'Hara | The Collected Works of Frank O'Hara |
| 1973 | A. R. Ammons | Collected Poems, 1951-1971 |
| 1974 | Allen Ginsberg | The Fall of America: Poems of these States, 1965-1971 |
| 1974 | Adrienne Rich | Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972 |
| 1975 | Marilyn Hacker | Presentation Piece |
| 1976 | John Ashbery | Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror |
| 1977 | Richard Eberhart | Collected Poems, 1930-1976 |
| 1978 | Howard Nemerov | The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov |
| 1979 | James Merrill | Mirabell: Book of Numbers |
| 1980 | Philip Levine | Ashes |
| 1981 | Lisel Mueller | The Need to Hold Still |
| 1982 | William Bronk | Life Supports: New and Collected Poems |
| 1983 | Galway Kinnell | Selected Poems |
| 1983 | Charles Wright | Country Music: Selected Early Poems |
| 1991 | Philip Levine | What Work Is |
| 1992 | Mary Oliver | New & Selected Poems |
| 1993 | A. R. Ammons | Garbage |
| 1994 | James Tate | A Worshipful Company of Fletchers |
| 1995 | Stanley Kunitz | Passing Through: The Later Poems |
| 1996 | Hayden Carruth | Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey |
| 1997 | William Meredith | Effort at Speech: New & Selected Poems |
| 1998 | Gerald Stern | This Time: New and Selected Poems |
| 1999 | Ai | Vice: New & Selected Poems |
| 2000 | Lucille Clifton | Poems Seven: New and Complete Poetry |
| 2001 | Alan Dugan | Blessing the Boats: New and Selected Poems 1988-2000 |
| 2002 | Ruth Stone | In the Next Galaxy |
| 2003 | C.K. Williams | The Singing |
| 2004 | Jean Valentine | Door in the Mountain: New and Collected Poems, 1965-2003 |
Young People's Literature
| 1996 | Victor Martinez | Parrott In the Oven: MiVida |
| 1997 | Han Nolan | Dancing on the Edge |
| 1998 | Louis Sachar | Holes |
| 1999 | Kimberly Willis Holt | When Zachary Beaver Came to Town |
| 2000 | Gloria Whelan | Homeless Bird |
| 2001 | Virginia Euwer Wolff | True Believer |
| 2002 | Nancy Farmer | The House of the Scorpion |
| 2003 | Polly Horvath | The Canning Season |
| 2004 | Pete Hautman | Godless |
Previous categories
In 1964, the categories Arts and Letters, History and Biography & Science, Philosophy and Religion categories had the addendum (Nonfiction).
In 1981, Children's Books, Fiction was called Children's Book, Fiction; and in 1983 it was called Children's Fiction.
In 1981, Children's Books, Non-fiction was called Children's Book, Nonfiction.
In 1983 Children's Books, Picture Books was called Children's Books, Picture Books.
First Novel
| 1980 | William Wharton | Birdy |
| 1981 | Ann Arensberg | Sister Wolf |
| 1982 | Robb Forman Dew | Dale Loves Sophie to Death |
| 1983 | Gloria Naylor | The Women of Brewster Place |
First Work of Fiction
| 1984 | Harriet Doerr | Stones for Ibarra |
| 1985 | Bob Shacochis | Easy in the Islands |
Science Fiction
| 1980 Hardcover | Frederik Pohl | Jem |
| 1980 Paperback | Walter Wangerin, Jr. | The Book of the Dun Cow |
Mystery
| 1980 Hardcover | John D. MacDonald | The Green Ripper |
Western
| 1980 | Louis L'Amour | Bendigo Shafter |
Original Paperback
| 1983 | Lisa Goldstein | The Red Magician |
General Nonfiction
| 1980 Hardcover | Tom Wolfe | The Right Stuff |
| 1980 Paperback | Peter Matthiessen | The Snow Leopard |
| 1981 Hardcover | Maxine Hong Kingston | China Men |
| 1981 Paperback | Jane Kramer | The Last Cowboy |
| 1982 Hardcover | Tracy Kidder | The Soul of a New Machine |
| 1982 Paperback | Victor S. Navasky | Naming Names |
| 1983 Hardcover | Fox Butterfield | China: Alive in the Bitter Sea |
| 1983 Paperback | James Fallows | National Defense |
Arts and Letters
| 1964 | Aileen Ward | John Keats: The Making of a Poet |
| 1965 | Eleanor Clark | Oysters of Lockmariaquer |
| 1966 | Janet Flanner | Paris Journal, 1944-1965 |
| 1967 | Justin Kaplan | Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography |
| 1968 | William Troy | Selected Essays |
| 1969 | Norman Mailer | The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, The Novel as History |
| 1970 | Lillian Hellman | An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir |
| 1971 | Francis Steegmuller | Cocteau: A Biography |
| 1972 | Charles Rosen | The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven |
| 1973 | Arthur M. Wilson | Diderot |
| 1974 | Pauline Kael | Deeper into the Movies |
| 1975 | Roger Shattuck | Marcel Proust |
| 1975 | Lewis Thomas | The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (also won The Sciences award) |
| 1976 | Paul Fussell | The Great War and Modern Memory |
History and Biography
| 1964 | William H. McNeill | The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community |
| 1965 | Louis Fischer | The Life of Lenin |
| 1966 | Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. | A Thousand Days |
| 1967 | Peter Gay | The Enlightenment, Vol. I: An Interpretation the Rise of Modern Paganism |
| 1968 | George F. Kennan | Memoirs: 1925-1950 |
| 1969 | Winthrop D. Jordan | White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 |
| 1970 | T. Harry Williams | Huey Long |
| 1971 | James MacGregor Burns | Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom |
| 1976 | David Brion Davis | The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823 |
History
| 1972 | Allan Nevins | Ordeal of the Union, Vols. VII & VIII: The Organized War, 1863-1864 and The Organized War to Victory |
| 1973 | Robert Manson Myers | The Children of Pride Isaiah Trunk |
| 1973 | Isaiah Trunk | Judenrat |
| 1974 | John Clive | Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian (also won Biography award) |
| 1975 | Bernard Bailyn | The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson (article on Thomas Hutchinson) |
| 1977 | Irving Howe | World of Our Fathers |
| 1978 | David McCullough | The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 |
| 1979 | Richard Beale Davis | Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763 |
| 1980 Hardcover | Henry A. Kissinger | The White House |
| 1980 Paperback | Barbara W. Tuchman | A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century |
| 1981 Hardcover | John Boswell | Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality |
| 1981 Paperback | Leon F. Litwak | Been in the Storm so Long: The Aftermath of Slavery |
| 1982 Hardcover | Father Peter John Powell | People of the Sacred Mountain: A History of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs and Warrior Societies, 1830-1879 |
| 1982 Paperback | Robert Wohl | The Generation of 1914 |
| 1983 Hardcover | Alan Brinkley | Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin and the Great Depression |
| 1983 Paperback | Frank E. Manuel & Fritzie P. Manuel | Utopian Thought in the Western World |
Biography
| 1972 | Joseph P. Lash | Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship, Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers |
| 1973 | James Thomas Flexner | George Washington, Vol. IV: Anguish and Farewell, 1793-1799 |
| 1974 | John Clive | Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian (also won History award) |
| 1974 | Douglas Day | Malcolm Lowry: A Biography |
| 1975 | Richard B. Sewall | The Life of Emily Dickinson |
| 1980 Hardcover | Edmund Morris | The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt |
| 1980 Paperback | A. Scott Berg | Max Perkins: Editor of Genius |
Biography and Autobiography
| 1977 | W. A. Swanberg | Norman Thomas: The Last Idealist |
| 1978 | W. Jackson Bate | Samuel Johnson |
| 1979 | Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. | Robert Kennedy and His Times |
Autobiography
| 1980 Hardcover | Lauren Bacall | Lauren Bacall by Myself |
| 1980 Paperback | Malcolm Cowley | And I Worked at the Writer's Trade: Chapters of Literary History 1918-1978 |
Autobiography/Biography
| 1981 Hardcover | Justin Kaplan | Walt Whitman |
| 1981 Paperback | Deirdre Bair | Samuel Beckett |
| 1982 Hardcover | David McCullough | Mornings on Horseback |
| 1982 Paperback | Ronald Steel | Walter Lippmann and the American Century |
| 1983 Hardcover | Judith Thurman | Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller |
| 1983 Paperback | James R. Mellow | Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Time |
Science, Philosophy and Religion
| 1964 | Christopher Tunnard & Boris Pushkarev | Man-made America |
| 1965 | Norbert Wiener | God and Golem, Inc: A Comment on Certain Points where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion |
| 1967 | Oscar Lewis | La Vida |
| 1968 | Jonathan Kozol | Death at an Early Age |
The Sciences
| 1969 | Robert J. Lifton | Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima |
| 1971 | Raymond Phineas Sterns | Science in the British Colonies of America |
| 1972 | George L. Small | The Blue Whale |
| 1973 | George B. Schaller | The Serengeti Lion: A Study of Predator-Prey Relations |
| 1974 | S. E. Luria | Life: The Unfinished Experiment |
| 1975 | Silvano Arieti | Interpretation of Schizophrenia |
| 1975 | Lewis Thomas | The Lives of a Cell: Notes of a Biology Watcher (also won Arts and Letters award) |
Science
| 1980 Hardcover | Douglas Hofstadter | Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid |
| 1980 Paperback | Gary Zukav | The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics |
| 1981 Hardcover | Stephen Jay Gould | The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections on Natural History |
| 1981 Paperback | Lewis Thomas | The Medusa and the Snail |
| 1982 Hardcover | Donald C. Johanson & Maitland A. Edey | Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind |
| 1982 Paperback | Fred Alan Wolf | Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists |
| 1983 Hardcover | Abraham Pais | "Subtle is the Lord...": The Science and Life of Albert Einstein |
| 1983 Paperback | Philip J. Davis & Reuben Hersh | The Mathematical Experience |
| 1983 Paperback | Joyce Carol Thomas | Marked by Fire |
Philosophy and Religion
| 1970 | Erik H. Erikson | Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence |
| 1972 | Martin E. Marty | Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America |
| 1973 | S. E. Ahlstrom | A Religious History of the American People |
| 1974 | Maurice Natanson | Edmund Husserl: Philosopher of Infinite Tasks |
| 1975 | Robert Nozick | Anarchy, State and Utopia |
Religion/Inspiration
| 1980 Hardcover | Elaine Pagels | The Gnostic Gospels |
| 1980 Paperback | Sheldon Vanauken | A Severe Mercy |
Contemporary Affairs
| 1972 | Stewart Brand (ed.) | The Last Whole Earth Catalogue |
| 1973 | Frances FitzGerald | Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam |
| 1974 | Murray Kempton | The Briar Patch |
| 1975 | Theodore Rosengarten | All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw |
| 1976 | Michael J. Arlen | Passage to Ararat |
Contemporary Thought
| 1977 | Bruno Bettelheim | The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales |
| 1978 | Gloria Emerson | Winners & Losers |
| 1979 | Peter Matthiessen | The Snow Leopard |
Current Interest
| 1980 Hardcover | Julia Child | Julia Child and More Company |
| 1980 Paperback | Christopher Lasch | The Culture of Narcissism |
General Reference Books
| 1980 Hardcover | Elder Witt (ed.) | The Complete Directory |
| 1980 Paperback | Tim Brooks & Earle Marsh | The Complete Directory of Prime Time Network TV Shows: 1946-Present |
Translation
| 1967 | Gregory Rabassa | Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch Willard Trask -- Casanova's History of My Life |
| 1968 | Howard & Edna Hong | Soren Kierkegaard's Journals and Papers |
| 1969 | William Weaver | Calvino's Cosmicomics |
| 1970 | Ralph Manheim | Celine's Castle to Castle |
| 1971 | Frank Jones | Brecht's Saint Joan of the Stockyards |
| 1971 | Edward G. Seidensticker | Yasunari Kawabata's The Sound of The Mountain |
| 1972 | Austryn Wainhouse | Jacques Monod's Chance and Necessity |
| 1973 | Allen Mandelbaum | The Aeneid of Virgil |
| 1974 | Karen Brazell | The Confessions of Lady Nijo |
| 1974 | Helen R. Lane | Octavio Paz's Alternating Current |
| 1974 | Jackson Matthews | Paul Valery's Monsieur Teste |
| 1975 | Anthony Kerrigan | Miguel D. Unamuno's The Agony of Christianity and Essays on Faith |
| 1977 | Li-Li Ch'en | Master Tung's Western Chamber Romance |
| 1978 | Howard Nemerov | Uwe George's In the Deserts of This Earth |
| 1979 | Clayton Eshleman & Jose Rubin Barcia | Cesar Vallejo's The Complete Posthumous Poetry |
| 1980 | William Arrowsmith | Cesare Pavese's Hard Labor |
| 1980 | Jane Gary Harris & Constance Link | Osip E. Mandelstam's Complete Critical Prose and Letters |
| 1981 | Francis Steegmuller | The Letters of Gustave Flaubert |
| 1981 | John E. Woods | Arno Schmidt's Evening Edged in Gold |
| 1982 | Robert Lyons Danly | Higuchi Ichiyo's In the Shade of Spring Leaves |
| 1982 | Ian Hideo Levy | The Ten Thousand Leaves: A Translation of The Man'Yoshu, Japan's Premier Anthology of Classical Poetry |
| 1983 | Richard Howard | Charles Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du Mal |
Children's Literature
| 1969 | Meindert DeJong | Journey from Peppermint Street |
| 1976 | Walter D. Edmonds | Bert Breen's Barn |
| 1977 | Katherine Paterson | The Master Puppeteer |
| 1978 | Judith & Herbert Kohl | The View From the Oak |
| 1979 | Katherine Paterson | The Great Gilly Hopkins |
Children's Books
| 1970 | Isaac Bashevis Singer | A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing up in Warsaw |
| 1971 | Lloyd Alexander | The Marvelous Misadventures of Sebastian |
| 1972 | Donald Barthelme | The Slightly Irregular Fire Engine or The Hithering Thithering Djinn |
| 1973 | Ursula K. LeGuin | The Farthest Shore |
| 1974 | Eleanor Cameron | The Court of the Stone Children |
| 1975 | Virginia Hamilton | M. C. Higgins the Great |
| 1980 Hardcover | Joan W. Blos | A Gathering of Days: A New England Girl's Journal |
| 1980 Paperback | Madeleine L'Engle | A Swiftly Tilting Planet |
Children's Books, Fiction
| 1981 Hardcover | Betsy Byars | The Night Swimmers |
| 1981 Paperback | Beverly Cleary | Ramona and Her Mother |
| 1982 Hardcover | Lloyd Alexander | Westmark |
| 1982 Paperback | Ouida Sebestyen | Words by Heart |
| 1983 Hardcover | Jean Fritz | Homesick: My Own Story |
| 1983 Paperback | Paula Fox | A Place Apart |
| 1983 Paperback | Joyce Carol Thomas | Marked by Fire |
Children's Books, Non-fiction
| 1981 Hardcover | Alison Cragin Herzig & Jane Lawrence | Mali -- Oh, Boy! Babies |
| 1982 | Susan Bonners | A Penguin Year |
| 1983 | James Cross Giblin | Chimney Sweeps |
Children's Books, Picture Books
| 1982 Hardcover | Maurice Sendak | Outside Over There |
| 1982 Paperback | Peter Spier | Noah's Ark |
| 1983 Hardcover | Barbara Cooney | Miss Rumphius |
| 1983 Hardcover | William Steig | Doctor De Soto |
| 1983 Paperback | Mary Ann Hoberman & Betty Fraser (ill.) | A House is a House for Me |
See also
External links
- The official website of the National Book Awards
- Most Honored National Book Award finalists
- The Book Awards Annals - National Book Award winners and finalists]