The National Book Award for Nonfiction is one of five annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by U.S. citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers".[1] The panelists are five "writers who are known to be doing great work in their genre or field".[2]
The original National Book Awards recognized the "Most Distinguished" biography and nonfiction books (two) of 1935 and 1936, and the "Favorite" nonfiction books of 1937 to 1940. The "Bookseller Discovery" and the "Most Original Book" sometimes recognized nonfiction. (See below.)
The general "Nonfiction" award was one of three when the National Book Awards were re-established in 1950 for 1949 publications, which the National Book Foundation considers the origin of its current Awards series.[3] From 1964 to 1983, under different administrators, there were multiple nonfiction categories.[3]
The current Nonfiction award recognizes one book written by a US citizen and published in the US from December 1 to November 30. The National Book Foundation accepts nominations from publishers until June 15, requires mailing nominated books to the panelists by August 1, and announces five finalists in October. The winner is announced on the day of the final ceremony in November. The award is $10,000 and a bronze sculpture; other finalists get $1000, a medal, and a citation written by the panel.[4] The sculpture by Louise Nevelson dates from the 1980 awards.[5] The $10,000 and $1000 cash prizes and autumn recognition for current-year publications date from 1984.[6][7][a]
About 200 books were nominated for the 1984 award, when the single award for general nonfiction was restored.[7]
The winner is listed first followed by the finalists.[a]
1984: Robert V. Remini, Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845[8]
1985: J. Anthony Lukas, Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families[9]
1986: Barry Lopez, Arctic Dreams: Imagination and Desire in a Northern Landscape[10]
1987: Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb[11]
1988: Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam[12]
1989: Thomas L. Friedman, From Beirut to Jerusalem[13]
1990: Ron Chernow, The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance[14]
1991: Orlando Patterson, Freedom, Vol. 1: Freedom in the Making of Western Culture[15]
1992: Paul Monette, Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story[16]
1993: Gore Vidal, United States: Essays 1952-1992[17]
1994: Sherwin B. Nuland, How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter[18]
1995: Tina Rosenberg, The Haunted Land: Facing Europe's Ghosts After Communism[19]
1996: James P. Carroll, An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War that Came Between Us[20]
1997: Joseph J. Ellis, American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson[21]
1998: Edward Ball, Slaves in the Family[22]
1999: John W. Dower, Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II[23]
2000: Nathaniel Philbrick, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex[24]
2001: Andrew Solomon, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression[27]
2002: Robert A. Caro, Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson[bio: Lyndon Johnson][28]
2003: Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy[29]
2004: Kevin Boyle, Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age[30]
2005: Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking[memoir][31]
2006: Timothy Egan, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl[32]
2007: Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA[33]
2008: Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family[34]
2009: T. J. Stiles, The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt [bio: Cornelius Vanderbilt][35]
2010: Patti Smith, Just Kids [memoir][36]
2011: Stephen Greenblatt, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern[37]
2012: Katherine Boo, Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity[38][39][40][41]
2013: George Packer, The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America[42][43][44]
2014: Evan Osnos, Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China[45][46]
2015: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me[47][48]
2016: Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America[49]
2017: Masha Gessen, The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia[50]
2018: Jeffrey C. Stewart, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke[51][52]
2019: Sarah M. Broom, The Yellow House[53]
2020: Les Payne and Tamara Payne, The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X[54]
For the 1963/1964 cycle, three new award categories replaced "Nonfiction": Arts and Letters; History and Biography; Science, Philosophy and Religion. For the next twenty years there were at least three award categories for nonfiction books marketed to adult readers and the term "Nonfiction" was used only 1980 to 1983 ("General Nonfiction", hardcover and paperback).
timespan | of all awards |
list of "Nonfiction" categories covered below |
---|---|---|
1964-1966 | 3 of 5 | Arts and Letters; History and Biography; Science, Philosophy and Religion |
1967-1968 | 3 of 6 | |
1969-1971 | 3 of 7 | Arts and Letters; History and Biography; "The Sciences" or "Philosophy and Religion" alternating |
1972-1975 | 6 of 10 | Arts and Letters; Biography; Contemporary Affairs; History; Philosophy and Religion; The Sciences |
1976 | 3 of 6 | Arts and Letters; Contemporary Affairs; History and Biography |
1977-1979 | 3 of 7 | Biography and Autobiography; Contemporary Thought; History |
1980 | 16 of 30+ | Autobiography; Biography; Current Interest; General Nonfiction; History; Religion/Inspiration; Science (each hardcover and paperback) |
1981-1983 | 8 of 20+ | Autobiography/Biography; General Nonfiction; History; Science (each hardcover and paperback) |
Year count |
Award category | Winner and finalists |
---|---|---|
1964[55]
|
Arts and Letters |
Aileen Ward, John Keats: The Making of a Poet [bio John Keats] Finalists are known collectively.[55] |
History and Biography |
William H. McNeill, The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community Finalists are known collectively.[55] | |
Science, Philosophy and Religion |
Christopher Tunnard and Boris Pushkarev, Man-made America: Chaos or Control? Finalists are known collectively.[55] | |
Finalists, 1964 nonfiction categories[55] |
David E. Lilienthal, Change, Hope and the Bomb | |
(probably Arts and Letters) Walter Jackson Bate, John Keats [bio John Keats] | ||
(probably History and Biography) Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative, Vol. II, Fredericksburg to Meridian (2nd of 3 vols) | ||
(probably Science, Philosophy and Religion) James Baldwin, The Fire Next Time | ||
1965[56]
|
Arts and Letters |
Eleanor Clark, The Oysters of Locmariaquer |
History and Biography |
Louis Fischer, The Life of Lenin [bio Vladimir Lenin] | |
Science, Philosophy and Religion |
Norbert Wiener, God & Golem, Inc.: A Comment on Certain Points Where Cybernetics Impinges on Religion | |
1966[57]
|
Arts and Letters |
Janet Flanner Paris Journal, 1944-1965 |
History and Biography |
Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House | |
Science, Philosophy and Religion |
No award given. Charles Frankel, "The Love of Anxiety" and Other Essays | |
1967[58]
|
Arts and Letters |
Justin Kaplan, Mr. Clemens and Mark Twain: A Biography [bio Mark Twain] |
History and Biography |
Peter Gay, The Enlightenment, Vol. I: The Rise of Modern Paganism | |
Science, Philosophy and Religion |
Oscar Lewis, La Vida: A Puerto Rican Family in the Culture of Poverty--San Juan and New York [about culture of poverty] | |
1968[59]
|
Arts and Letters |
William Troy, Selected Essays |
History and Biography |
George F. Kennan, Memoirs: 1925-1950 (first of 2 vols.) | |
Science, Philosophy and Religion |
Jonathan Kozol, Death at an Early Age | |
1969[60]
|
Arts and Letters |
Norman Mailer, The Armies of the Night: History as a Novel, The Novel as History |
History and Biography |
Winthrop Jordan, White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550-1812 | |
The Sciences |
Robert Jay Lifton, Death in Life: Survivors of Hiroshima | |
1970[61]
|
Arts and Letters |
Lillian Hellman, An Unfinished Woman: A Memoir |
History and Biography |
T. Harry Williams, Huey Long [bio Huey Long] | |
Philosophy and Religion |
Erik Erikson, Gandhi's Truth: On the Origins of Militant Nonviolence | |
1971[62]
|
Arts and Letters |
Francis Steegmuller, Cocteau: A Biography [bio Cocteau] |
History and Biography |
James MacGregor Burns, Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom [bio Franklin D. Roosevelt] | |
The Sciences |
Raymond Phineas Stearns, Science in the British Colonies of America | |
1972[63]
|
Arts and Letters |
Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven |
Biography |
Joseph P. Lash, Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship, Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers [bio Eleanor Roosevelt] | |
Contemporary Affairs |
Stewart Brand, editor, The Last Whole Earth Catalogue No other finalists announced. | |
History |
Allan Nevins, The Organized War, 1863-1864 and The Organized War to Victory, 1864-1865 (Ordeal of the Union, vols. 7 & 8 of eight) No other finalists announced. | |
Philosophy and Religion |
Martin E. Marty, Righteous Empire: The Protestant Experience in America No other finalists announced. | |
The Sciences |
George L. Small, The Blue Whale No other finalists announced. | |
1973[64]
|
Arts and Letters |
Arthur M. Wilson, Diderot (about Denis Diderot) |
Biography |
James Thomas Flexner, George Washington: Anguish and Farewell, 1793-1799 (last of 4 vols.) | |
Contemporary Affairs |
Frances FitzGerald, Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam (about the U.S. Vietnam War) | |
History |
Split award. | |
Philosophy and Religion |
S. E. Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People | |
The Sciences |
| |
1974[65]
|
Arts and Letters |
Pauline Kael, Deeper Into Movies |
Biography |
Split award. | |
Contemporary Affairs |
Murray Kempton, The Briar Patch: The People of the State of New York versus Lumumba Shakur, et al. (about a Black Panthers trial) | |
History |
John Leonard Clive, Thomas Babington Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian[c] | |
Philosophy and Religion |
Maurice Natanson, Edmund Husserl: Philosopher of Infinite Tasks | |
The Sciences |
S. E. Luria, Life: The Unfinished Experiment | |
1975[66]
|
Arts and Letters |
Split award. |
Biography |
Richard B. Sewall, The Life of Emily Dickinson | |
Contemporary Affairs |
Theodore Rosengarten, All God's Dangers: The Life of Nate Shaw (see Ned Cobb) | |
History |
Bernard Bailyn, The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson | |
Philosophy and Religion |
Robert Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia | |
The Sciences |
Split award. | |
1976[67]
|
Arts and Letters |
Paul Fussell, The Great War and Modern Memory |
Contemporary Affairs |
Michael J. Arlen, Passage to Ararat | |
History and Biography |
David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823 | |
1977[68]
|
Biography and Autobiography |
W. A. Swanberg, Norman Thomas: The Last Idealist |
Contemporary Thought |
Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales | |
History |
Irving Howe, World of Our Fathers: The Journey of the East European Jews to America and the Life They Found and Made | |
1978[69]
|
Biography and Autobiography |
W. Jackson Bate, Samuel Johnson (about Samuel Johnson) |
Contemporary Thought |
Gloria Emerson, Winners and Losers | |
History |
David McCullough, The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870-1914 | |
1979[70]
|
Biography and Autobiography |
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Robert Kennedy and His Times |
Contemporary Thought |
Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard | |
History |
Richard Beale Davis, Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585-1763 |
From 1980 to 1983 there were dual awards for hardcover (hc) and paperback (ppb) books in all nonfiction subcategories and some others. Most of the paperback award winners were second and later editions that had been previously eligible in their first editions. Here the first edition publication year is given parenthetically except the calendar year preceding the award is represented by "(new)".[g]
Award category | Winner and other finalists |
---|---|
1980 (16 categories)[71] | |
Autobiography (hc) |
Lauren Bacall, Lauren Bacall by Myself |
Autobiography (ppb) |
Malcolm Cowley, And I Worked at the Writer's Trade: Chapters of Literary History 1918-1978 (1978) No other finalists announced. |
Biography (hc) |
Edmund Morris, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt |
Biography (ppb) |
A. Scott Berg, Max Perkins: Editor of Genius (1978) |
Current Interest (hc) |
Julia Child, Julia Child and More Company |
Current Interest (ppb) |
Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in an Age of Diminishing Expectations |
General Nonfiction (hc) |
Tom Wolfe, The Right Stuff |
General Nonfiction (ppb) |
Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard (1978) |
General Reference (hardcover)[72] |
Elder Witt, editor, Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court |
General Reference (ppb) |
Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (new) |
History (hc) |
Henry A. Kissinger, The White House Years (memoir, first of 3) |
History (ppb) |
Barbara W. Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (1978) |
Religion/Inspiration (hc) |
Elaine Pagels, The Gnostic Gospels (about Gnostic Gospels) |
Religion/Inspiration (ppb) |
Sheldon Vanauken, A Severe Mercy (1977) |
Science (hc) |
Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid |
Science (ppb) |
Gary Zukav, The Dancing Wu Li Masters: An Overview of the New Physics (new) |
1981 (8 categories)[73] | |
Autobiography/ Biography (hc) |
Justin Kaplan, Walt Whitman: A Life |
Autobiography/ Biography (ppb) |
Deirdre Bair, Samuel Beckett: A Biography (1978) |
General Nonfiction (hc) |
Maxine Hong Kingston, China Men[h] |
General Nonfiction (ppb) |
Jane Kramer, The Last Cowboy: Europeans and The Politics of Memory (1977) |
History (hc) |
John Boswell, Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality |
History (ppb) |
Leon F. Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery (1979) |
Science (hc) |
Stephen Jay Gould, The Panda's Thumb: More Reflections on Natural History |
Science (ppb) |
Lewis Thomas, The Medusa and the Snail: More Notes of a Biology Watcher (1979) |
1982 (8 categories)[74] | |
Autobiography/ Biography (hc) |
David McCullough, Mornings on Horseback (about Theodore Roosevelt) |
Autobiography/ Biography (ppb) |
Ronald Steel, Walter Lippmann and the American Century (1980) |
General Nonfiction (hc) |
Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine |
General Nonfiction (ppb) |
Victor S. Navasky, Naming Names (1980) (see Hollywood blacklist) |
History (hc) |
Peter J. Powell, People of the Sacred Mountain: A History of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs and Warrior Societies, 1830-1879 |
History (ppb) |
Robert Wohl, The Generation of 1914 (see Lost Generation) (1979) |
Science (hc) |
Donald C. Johanson and Maitland A. Edey, Lucy: The Beginnings of Humankind |
Science (ppb) |
Fred Alan Wolf, Taking the Quantum Leap: The New Physics for Nonscientists (new) |
1983 (8 categories)[75] | |
Autobiography/ Biography (hc) |
Judith Thurman, Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller |
Autobiography/ Biography (ppb) |
James R. Mellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne in His Times (1980) |
General Nonfiction (hc) |
Fox Butterfield, China: Alive in the Bitter Sea |
General Nonfiction (ppb) |
James Fallows, National Defense (1981) |
History (hc) |
Alan Brinkley, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin and the Great Depression |
History (ppb) |
Frank E. Manuel and Fritzie P. Manuel, Utopian Thought in the Western World (1979) |
Science (hc) |
Abraham Pais, "Subtle is the Lord ...": The Science and Life of Albert Einstein |
Science (ppb) |
Philip J. Davis and Reuben Hersh, The Mathematical Experience (1981) |
Nonfiction finalists, 1984 to date
1983 entries were published during 1982, the pattern established for 1949 books in 1950. Winners in 27 categories were announced April 13 and privately celebrated April 28, 1983.[6]
The awards practically went out of business that spring. Their salvation with a reduced program to be determined was announced in November. The revamp was completed only next summer, with an autumn program recognizing books published during the award year (initially, preceding November to current October). There were no awards for books published in 1983 before November.
By this time the awards were sponsored by the book publishers alone. From 1980 (for 1979 books) they were termed "American Book Awards", and the National Book Awards were considered to have been discontinued after 1979.[6]
1984 entries for the "revamped" awards in merely three categories were published November 1983 to October 1984; that is, approximately during the award year. Eleven finalists were announced October 17.[7] Winners were announced and celebrated November 15, 1984.[76]
The first awards in the current series were presented to the best books of 1949 at the annual convention dinner of the booksellers, book publishers, and book manufacturers in New York City, March 16, 1950. There were honorable mentions ("special citations") in the non-fiction category only.[77]
1950: Ralph L. Rusk, The Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson (biography of Ralph Waldo Emerson)[78]
1951: Newton Arvin, Herman Melville (biography of Herman Melville)[79]
1952: Rachel Carson, The Sea Around Us[80]
1953: Bernard De Voto, The Course of Empire[81]
1954: Bruce Catton, A Stillness at Appomattox[82]
1955: Joseph Wood Krutch, The Measure of Man[83]
1956: Herbert Kubly, An American in Italy[84]
1957: George F. Kennan, Russia Leaves the War'[85]
1958: Catherine Drinker Bowen, The Lion and the Throne (see Edward Coke)[86]
1959: J. Christopher Herold, Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame de Staël (biography of Madame de Staël)[87]
1960: Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (biography of James Joyce)[88]
1961: William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich[89]
1962: Lewis Mumford, The City in History: Its Origins, its Transformations and its Prospects[90]
1963: Leon Edel, Henry James, volumes II and III (biography of Henry James)[91]
The National Book Awards for 1935 to 1940 annually recognized the "most distinguished" or "favorite" book of General Nonfiction or simply Nonfiction. In 1935 and 1936 there was distinct award to the most distinguished Biography; both winners were autobiographies. Meanwhile, four of the six general nonfiction winners were autobiographical and one more was a biography. Furthermore, all books were eligible for the "Bookseller Discovery" and "Most Original Book" (two awards); nonfiction winners are listed here. In 1937 and 1939 alone, the New York Times reported close seconds and runners up respectively.[92][93]
There was only one National Book Award for 1941, the Bookseller Discovery, which recognized a novel;[94] then none until their 1950 revival for 1949 books in three categories including general Nonfiction.
1935: Anne Morrow Lindbergh, North to the Orient[95]
1936: Van Wyck Brooks, The Flowering of New England: 1815-1865[96]
1937: Ève Curie, Madame Curie[92]
1938: Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Listen! The Wind[97]
1939: Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Wind, Sand and Stars[93][98]
1940: Hans Zinsser, As I Remember Him: The Biography of R.S. [99]
1936: see fiction
1937: see fiction
1938: David Fairchild, The World Was My Garden: Travels of a Plant Explorer[97]
1939: see fiction
1940: Perry Burgess, Who Walk Alone[99]
1941: see fiction
1935: see fiction
1936: Della T. Lutes, The Country Kitchen[96][100]
1937: Carl Crow, Four Hundred Million Customers: The Experiences--Some Happy, Some Sad, of an American Living in China, and What They Taught Him[92]
1938: Margaret Halsey, With Malice Toward Some[97][101]
1939: see fiction
Three books have won two literary National Book Awards (that is, excluding graphics), all in nonfiction subcategories of 1964 to 1983.
Matthiessen and Thomas won three Awards (as did Saul Bellow, all fiction). Matthiessen won the 2008 fiction award. Thomas is one of several authors of two Award-winning books in nonfiction categories.