National Book Award - Nonfiction

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

National Book Foundation, 49 Books

The National Book Awards are among the most eminent literary prizes in the United States. Started in 1950, the awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the prior year, as well as lifetime achievement awards including the "Medal of Distinguished Contribution to American Letters" and the "Literarian Award". The purpose of the awards is "to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America.

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This list is a yearly book award, and was added to this site over 12 years ago.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
17162 Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph L. Rusk 1949 American English
17162 Herman Melville Newton Arvin 1950 American English
11881 The Sea Around Us Rachel Carson 1951 American English
17162 The Course of Empire Bernard A. DeVoto 1952 American English
14985 A Stillness at Appomattox Bruce Catton 1953 American English
17162 The Measure of Man Joseph Wood Krutch 1954 American English
17162 American in Italy Herbert Kubly 1955 American English
14985 Russia Leaves the War George F. Kennan 1956 American English
17162 The Lion and the Throne Catherine Drinker Bowen 1957 American English
17162 Mistress to an Age J. Christopher Herold 1958 American English
4390 James Joyce Richard Ellmann 1959 American English
2481 The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich William L. Shirer 1960 American English
4455 The City in History Lewis Mumford 1961 American English
868 Henry James Leon Edel 1953 American English
17162 Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy Robert V. Remini 1984 American English
6485 Common Ground J. Anthony Lukas 1985 American English
4985 Arctic Dreams Barry Lopez 1986 American English
1750 The Making of the Atomic Bomb Richard Rhodes 1986 American English
4418 A Bright Shining Lie Neil Sheehan 1988 American English
9262 From Beirut to Jerusalem Thomas L. Friedman 1989 American English
7573 The House of Morgan Ron Chernow 1990 American English
14985 Freedom Orlando Patterson 1991 Jamaican English
17162 Becoming a Man Paul Monette 1992 American English
10631 United States Gore Vidal 1993 American English
14985 How We Die Sherwin B. Nuland 1994 American English
6882 The Haunted Land Tina Rosenberg 1995 American English
10061 In the Heart of the Sea Nathaniel Philbrick 2000 American English
13941 The Noonday Demon Andrew Solomon 2001 American English
2340 Master of the Senate Robert Caro 2002 American English
11418 Waiting for Snow in Havana Carlos Eire 2003 Cuban English
8435 Arc of Justice Kevin Boyle 2004 American English
370 The Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion 2005 American English
17162 The Worst Hard Time Timothy Egan 2006 American English
17162 Legacy of Ashes Tim Weiner 2007 American English
14985 The Hemingses of Monticello Annette Gordon-Reed 2008 American English
10788 The First Tycoon T. J. Stiles 2009 American English
2116 Just Kids Patti Smith 2010 American English
4420 The Swerve Stephen Greenblatt 2011 American English
1495 Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo 2012 American English
6248 The Unwinding George Packer 2013 American English
4189 Age of Ambition Evan Osnos 2014 American English
1209 Between the World and Me Ta-Nehisi Coates 2015 American English
14985 Stamped from the Beginning Ibram X. Kendi 2016 American English
8063 The Future Is History Masha Gessen 2017 Russian English
10788 The New Negro Jeffrey C. Stewart 2018 American English
5461 The Yellow House Sarah M. Broom 2019 American English
10788 The Dead Are Arising Les Payne 2020 American English
9065 Soldiers And Kings Jason De León 2024 Unknown English
8419 One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This Omar El Akkad 2025 Unknown English