The National Book Award is administered by the National Book Foundation and is considered one of the most prestigious American literary honors, rivaled only by the Pulitzer Prize. The prize was called the American Book Award from 1980 to 1986, then reverted back to its original name in 1987. Winners in each major category are listed below by year
1950
Fiction: The Man With The Golden Arm, by Nelson Algren
Nonfiction: Ralph Waldo Emerson, by Ralph L. Rusk
Poetry: Paterson: Book III and Selected Poems, by William Carlos Williams
1951
Fiction: The Collected Stories of William Faulkner, by William Faulkner
Nonfiction: Herman Melville, by Newton Arvin
Poetry: The Auroras of Autumn, by Wallace Stevens
1952
Fiction: From Here to Eternity, by James Jones
Nonfiction: The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson
Poetry: Collected Poems, by Marianne Moore
1953
Fiction: Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Nonfiction: The Course of an Empire, by Bernard A. De Voto
Poetry: Collected Poems, 1917–1952, by Archibald MacLeish
1954
Fiction: The Adventures of Augie March, by Saul Bellow
Nonfiction: The Stillness at Appomattox, by Bruce Catton
Poetry: Collected Poems, by Conrad Aitken
1955
Fiction: A Fable, by William Faulkner
Nonfiction: The Measure of Man, by Joseph Wood Krutch
Poetry: The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens, by Wallace Stevens
1956
Fiction: Ten North Frederick, by John O’Hara
Nonfiction: An American in Italy, by Herbert Kubly
Poetry: The Shield of Achilles, by W. H. Auden
1957
Fiction: The Field of Vision, by Wright Morris
Nonfiction: Russia Leaves the War, by George F. Kennan
Poetry: Things of the World, by Richard Wilbur
1958
Fiction: The Wapshot Chronicle, by John Cheever
Nonfiction: The Lion and the Throne, by Catherine Drinker Bowen
Poetry: Promises: Poems, 1954–1956, by Robert Penn Warren
1959
Fiction: The Magic Barrel, by Bernard Malamud
Nonfiction: Mistress to an Age: A Life of Madame De Stael, by J. Christopher Herold
Poetry: Words for the Wind, by Theodore Roethke
1960
Fiction: Goodbye, Columbus, by Philip Roth
Nonfiction: James Joyce, by Richard Ellmann
Poetry: Life Studies, by Robert Lowell
1961
Fiction: The Waters of Kronos, by Conrad Richter
Nonfiction: The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, by William L. Shirer
Poetry: The Woman at the Washington Zoo, by Randall Jarrell
1962
Fiction: The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy
Nonfiction: The City in History: Its Origins, its Transformations and its Prospects, by Lewis Mumford
Poetry: Poems, by Alan Dugan
1963
Fiction: Morte D’Urban, by J. F. Powers
Nonfiction: Henry James, Vol. II: The Conquest of London, Henry James, Vol III: The Middle Years, by Leon Edel
Poetry: Traveling Through the Dark, by William Stafford
1964
Fiction: The Centaur, by John Updike
History and Biography: The Rise of the West: A History of the Human Community, by William H. McNeill
Poetry: Selected Poems, by John Crowe Ransom
1965
Fiction: Herzog, by Saul Bellow
History and Biography: The Life of Lenin, by Louis Fischer
Poetry: The Far Field, by Theodore Roethke
1966
Fiction: The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter, by Katherine Anne Porter
History and Biography: A Thousand Days, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Poetry: Buckdancer’s Choice: Poems, by James Dickey
1967
Fiction: The Fixer, by Bernard Malamud
History and Biography: The Enlightenment, Vol. I: An Interpretation the Rise of Modern Paganism, by Peter Gay
Poetry: Nights and Days, by James Merrill
1968
Fiction: The Eighth Day, by Thornton Wilder
History and Biography: Memoirs: 1925–1950, by George F. Kennan
Poetry: The Light Around the Body, by Robert Bly
1969
Fiction: Steps, by Jerzy Konsinski
History and Biography: White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550–1812, Winthrop D. Jordan
Poetry: His Toy, His Dream, His Rest, by John Berryman
1970
Fiction: Them, by Joyce Carol Oates
History and Biography: Huey Long, by T. Harry Williams
Poetry: The Complete Poems, by Elizabeth Bishop
1971
Fiction: Mr. Sammler’s Planet, by Saul Bellow
History and Biography: Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom, by James MacGregor Burns
Poetry: To See, To Take, by Mona Van Duyn
1972
Biography: Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship, Based on Eleanor Roosevelt’s Private Papers, by Joseph P. Lash
Fiction: The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, by Flannery O’Connor
History: Ordeal of the Union, Vols. VII & VIII: The Organized War, 1863–1864 and The Organized War to Victory, by Allan Nevins
Poetry: Selected Poems Frank O’Hara— The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara, by Howard Moss
1973
Biography: George Washington, Vol. IV: Anguish and Farewell, 1793–1799, by James Thomas Flexner
Fiction: Augustus, by John Barth; Chimera, by John Williams
History: The Children of Pride Isaiah Trunk—Judenrat, by Robert Manson Myers
Poetry: Collected Poems, 1951–1971, by A. R. Ammons
1974
Biography: Macaulay: The Shaping of the Historian (also won History award), by John Clive; Malcolm Lowry: A Biography, by Douglas Day
Fiction: Gravity’s Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon; A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories, by Isaac Bashevis Singer
History: The Shaping of the Historian, by John Clive
Poetry: The Fall of America: Poems of these States, by Allen Ginsberg; Driving into the Wreck: Poems 1971–1972, by Adrienne Rich
1975
Biography: The Life of Emily Dickinson, by Richard B. Sewall
Fiction: Dog Soldiers, by Robert Stone; The Hair of Harold Roux, by Thomas Williams
History: The Ordeal of Thomas Hutchinson, by Bernard Bailyn
Poetry: Presentation Piece, by Marilyn Hacker
1976
Fiction: Jr, by William Gaddis
History and Biography: The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770–1823, by David Brion Davis
Poetry: Self-portrait in a Convex Mirror, by John Ashbery
1977
Biography/Autobiography: Norman Thomas: The Last Idealist, by W. A. Swanberg
Fiction: The Spectator Bird, by Wallace Stegner
History: World of Our Fathers, by Irving Howe
Poetry: Collected Poems, 1930–1976, by Richard Eberhart
1978
Biography/Autobiography: Samuel Johnson, by W. Jackson Bate
Fiction: Blood Ties, by Mary Lee Settle
History: The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal 1870–1914, by David McCullough
Poetry: The Collected Poems of Howard Nemerov, by Howard Nemerov
1979
Biography/Autobiography: Robert Kennedy and His Times, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
Fiction: Going After Cacciato, by Tim O’Brien
History: Intellectual Life in the Colonial South, 1585–1763, by Richard Beale Davis
Poetry: Mirabell: Book of Numbers, by James Merrill
1980
Autobiography: Lauren Bacall by Myself, by Lauren Bacall
Biography: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edmund Morris
Fiction: Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
History: The White House Years, by Henry A. Kissinger
Poetry: Ashes, by Philip Levine
1981
Autobiography/Biography: Walt Whitman, by Justin Kaplan
Fiction: Plains Song, by Wright Morris
History: Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality, by John Boswell
Poetry: The Need to Hold Still, by Lisel Mueller
1982
Autobiography/Biography: Mornings on Horseback, by David McCullough
Fiction: Rabbit is Rich, by John Updike
History: People of the Sacred Mountain: A History of the Northern Cheyenne Chiefs and Warrior Societies, 1830–1879, by Father Peter John Powell
Poetry: Life Supports: New and Collected Poems, by William Bronk
1983
Autobiography/Biography: Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller, by Judith Thurman
Fiction: The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
History: Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin and the Great Depression, by Alan Brinkley
Poetry: Selected Poems, by Galway Kinnell
1984
Fiction: Victory over Japan: A Book of Stories, by Ellen Gilchrist
Nonfiction: Andrew Jackson & the Course of American Democracy, 1833–1845, by Robert V. Remini
Poetry: [no award]
1985
Fiction: White Noise, by Don DeLillo
Nonfiction: Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families, by J. Anthony Lukas
Poetry: [no award]
1986
Fiction: World’s Fair, by E. L. Doctorow
Nonfiction: Arctic Dreams, by Barry Lopez
Poetry: [no award]
1987
Fiction: Paco’s Story, by Larry Heinemann
Nonfiction: The Making of the Atom Bomb, by Richard Rhodes
Poetry: [no award]
1988
Fiction: Paris Trout, by Pete Dexter
Nonfiction: A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, by Neil Sheehan
Poetry: [no award]
1989
Fiction: Spartina, by John Casey
Nonfiction: From Beirut to Jerusalem, by Thomas L. Friedman
Poetry: [no award]
1990
Fiction: Middle Passage, by Charles Johnson
Nonfiction: The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance, by Ron Chernow
Poetry: [no award]
1991
Fiction: Mating, by Norman Rush
Nonfiction: Freedom, by Orlando Patterson
Poetry: What Work Is, by Philip Levine
1992
Fiction: All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
Nonfiction: Becoming a Man: Half a Life Story, by Paul Monette
Poetry: New & Selected Poems, by Mary Oliver
1993
Fiction: The Shipping News, by E. Annie Proulx
NON-Fiction: United States: Essays 1952–1992, by Gore Vidal
Poetry: Garbage, by A. R. Ammons
1994
Fiction: A Frolic of His Own, by William Gaddis
Nonfiction: How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter, by Sherwin B. Nuland
Poetry: A Worshipful Company of Fletchers, by James Tate
1995
Fiction: Sabbath’s Theater, by Philip Roth
Nonfiction: The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts After Communism, by Tina Rosenberg
Poetry: Passing Through: The Later Poems, by Stanley Kunitz
1996
Fiction: Ship Fever and Other Stories, by Andrea Barrett
Nonfiction: An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War that Came Between Us, by James Carroll
Poetry: Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey, by Hayden Carruth
1997
Fiction: Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
Nonfiction: American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph J. Ellis
Poetry: Effort at Speech: New & Selected Poems, by William Meredith
1998
Fiction: Charming Billy, by Alice
McDermott Nonfiction: Slaves in the Family, by
Edward Ball Poetry: This Time: New and Selected
Poems, by Gerald Stern
1999
Fiction: Waiting, by Ha Jin
Nonfiction: Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of WWII, by John W. Dower
Poetry: Vice: New and Selected Poems, by Ai (née Florence Anthony)
National Book Foundation. The National Book Awards: 48 Years of Literary Excellence, Winners and Finalists, 1950–1997. New York: National Book Foundation, 1998. National Book Foundation. “The National Book Foundation Homepage,” www.publishersweekly.com/NBF/docs/nbf.html
