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Book Awards » National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography

Categories: General Nonfiction, Literary Fiction, Memoir / Autobiography, Biography, Criticism, Poetry, Autobiography / Biography
The National Book Critics Circle, founded in 1974, is a nonprofit organization consisting of more than 600 active book reviewers from all over the country who are interested in honoring quality writing and communicating with one another about common concerns. Each year in March, they present awards to the best books published in English in six categories: Fiction, General Nonfiction, Biography, Autobiography, Poetry, and Criticism. *In 2005 the category Autobiography/Biography was separated into Memoir/Autobiography and Biography.

2020

Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World
Stranger in the Shogun's City: A Japanese Woman and Her World
Author: Amy Stanley
  ?


Other Versions: Paperback

2019

The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth
Author: Josh Levin
  ?


Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD (Unabridged AUDIO)

2018

Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous
Flash: The Making of Weegee the Famous
Author: Christopher Bonanos
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Paperback

2017

Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder
Author: Caroline Fraser
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 6


Other Versions: Paperback, Hardcover

2016

Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life
Author: Ruth Franklin
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 3


Other Versions: Paperback

2014

Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh
Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh
Author: John Lahr
  ?


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD (Abridged), Paperback, Audio CD (Unabridged)

2013

Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World
Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World
Author: Prof. Leo Damrosch
  ?


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD (Abridged), Paperback, Audio CD (Unabridged)

2012

The Passage of Power (Years of Lyndon Johnson, Bk 4)
The Passage of Power (Years of Lyndon Johnson, Bk 4)
Author: Robert A. Caro
  • Currently 4.8/5 Stars.
 4


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD (Abridged), Paperback, Audio CD (Unabridged)

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2011

George F. Kennan: An American Life
George F. Kennan: An American Life
Author: John Lewis Gaddis
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Audio CD (Unabridged), Audio CD (Unabridged MP3CD), Paperback

2010

How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer
How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer
Author: Sarah Bakewell
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 9


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback

2009

Cheever: A Life
Cheever: A Life
Author: Blake Bailey
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback, Audio CD (Unabridged)

2008

The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul
The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul
Author: Patrick French
  ?


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback

2007

Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer
Stanley: The Impossible Life of Africa's Greatest Explorer
Author: Tim Jeal
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Hardcover, Hardcover, Paperback

2006

James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon
Author: Julie Phillips
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 14


Other Versions: Paperback

2005

American Prometheus : The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
American Prometheus : The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
Author: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 12


Other Versions: Audio CD (Unabridged), Hardcover, Hardcover