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Book Awards » National Book Critics Circle Award - General Nonfiction

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

Island on Fire: The Revolt That Ended Slavery in the British Empire

2019

Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland
Author: Patrick Radden Keefe
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 10


Other Versions: Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Hardcover

2018

Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Author: Steve Coll
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Hardcover

2017

The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America
The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America
Author: Frances FitzGerald
  ?


Other Versions: Paperback

2016

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City
Author: Matthew Desmond
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 23


Other Versions: Paperback, Paperback, Paperback

2014

The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Emancipation
Author: David Brion Davis
  ?


Other Versions: Hardcover, Hardcover, Hardcover

2013

Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital
Author: Sheri Fink
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 17


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

2012

Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity
Author: Andrew Solomon
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 5


Other Versions: Paperback, Hardcover, Paperback, Audio CD

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2011

Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (Vintage)
Liberty's Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (Vintage)
Author: Maya Jasanoff
  ?


Other Versions: Paperback, Hardcover, Paperback, Audio CD

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Retail Price: $17.95
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2010

The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration
Author: Isabel Wilkerson
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 25


Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD, Audio CD (MP3 Una), Audio CD (Unabridged)

2009

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
Author: Richard Holmes
  • Currently 2.9/5 Stars.
 6


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

2008

The Forever War
The Forever War
Author: Dexter Filkins
  • Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
 14


Other Versions: Paperback, Audio CD

2007

Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans from Colonial Times to the Present
Author: Harriet A. Washington
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 7


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD (MP3 - Unabridged CD)

2006

Rough Crossings: The Slaves, the British, and the American Revolution
Rough Crossings: The Slaves, the British, and the American Revolution
Author: Simon Schama
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 4


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD (MP3 - Unabridged CD)

2005

Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster
Author: Svetlana Alexievich, Keith Gessen (Translator)
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 11


The Market's bargain prices are even better for Paperbackswap club members!
Retail Price: $16.00
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2004

The Reformation: A History
The Reformation: A History
Author: Diarmaid MacCulloch
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 2


Other Versions: Audio CD (MP3 Una)

2003

Sons of Mississippi : A Story of Race and Its Legacy
Sons of Mississippi : A Story of Race and Its Legacy
Author: Paul Hendrickson
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 4


Other Versions: Hardcover

2002

'A Problem From Hell': America and the Age of Genocide
'A Problem From Hell': America and the Age of Genocide
Author: Samantha Power
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 8


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD (MP3 Una), Audio CD (Unabridged), Paperback, Audio CD (MP3 Una)

2001

Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper
Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper
Author: Nicholson Baker
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Hardcover

2000

Newjack : Guarding Sing Sing
Newjack : Guarding Sing Sing
Author: Ted Conover
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 44


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette (Abridged), Audio Cassette (Unabridged Library), Audio Cassette (Abridged), Audio CD, Audio CD (Unab MP3), Audio CD (MP3 Una), Audio CD (Unabridged), Audio Cassette (Abridged)

1999

Time, Love, Memory : A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
Time, Love, Memory : A Great Biologist and His Quest for the Origins of Behavior
Author: Jonathan Weiner
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 3


Other Versions: Paperback

1998

We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda
Author: Philip Gourevitch
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 71


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

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Retail Price: $18.00
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1997

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
Author: Anne Fadiman
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 235


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback, Audio CD (MP3 Una)

1996

Bad Land: An American Romance
Bad Land: An American Romance
Author: Jonathan Raban
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 39


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio Cassette, Paperback

1995

A Civil Action
A Civil Action
Author: Jonathan Harr
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 252


Other Versions: Audio Cassette (Abridged), Paperback, Hardcover, Paperback, Hardcover, Audio Cassette (Abridged), Hardcover, Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Hardcover

1994

The Rape of Europa : The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War
The Rape of Europa : The Fate of Europe's Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War
Author: Lynn H. Nicholas
  • Currently 3.2/5 Stars.
 9


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback

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1993

The Land Where the Blues Began
The Land Where the Blues Began
Author: Alan Lomax
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 2


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback

1992

Young Men and Fire
Young Men and Fire
Author: Norman Maclean
  • Currently 3.9/5 Stars.
 47


Other Versions: Hardcover, Audio CD (Unabridged)

1991

Backlash : The Undeclared War Against American Women
Backlash : The Undeclared War Against American Women
Author: Susan Faludi
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 57


Other Versions: Paperback, Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback

1990

The Content of Our Character : A New Vision of Race In America
The Content of Our Character : A New Vision of Race In America
Author: Shelby Steele
  • Currently 3.1/5 Stars.
 6


Other Versions: Hardcover

1989

The Broken Cord: A Family's Ongoing Struggle With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
The Broken Cord: A Family's Ongoing Struggle With Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Author: Michael Dorris
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 5


Other Versions: Hardcover

1988

Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63
Author: Taylor Branch
  ?


Other Versions: Audio CD (Abridged)

1987

The Making of the Atomic Bomb
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
Author: Richard Rhodes
  • Currently 4.5/5 Stars.
 11


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback

1986

War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
War Without Mercy: Race and Power in the Pacific War
Author: John W. Dower
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 8


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback

1985

Common Ground : A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families
Common Ground : A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families
Author: J. Anthony Lukas
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 10


Other Versions: Paperback

1984

Weapons and Hope
Weapons and Hope
Author: Freeman Dyson
  • Currently 2/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Hardcover, Hardcover

1983

The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House
The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House
Author: Seymour Hersh
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Hardcover, Hardcover

1982

The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1)
The Path to Power (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1)
Author: Robert A. Caro
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 3


Other Versions: Paperback, Audio Cassette, Audio Cassette

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1981

The Mismeasure of Man
The Mismeasure of Man
Author: Stephen Jay Gould
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 15


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

1980

Walter Lippmann and the American Century
Walter Lippmann and the American Century
Author: Ronald Steel
  ?


Other Versions: Hardcover, Hardcover, Paperback

1979

Munich: The price of peace
Munich: The price of peace
Author: Telford Taylor
  ?


Other Versions: Paperback, Paperback

1978

The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life
Author: Maureen Howard
  ?


Other Versions: Hardcover

1977

Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Author: Walter Jackson Bate
  • Currently 5/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Paperback

1976

The Woman Warrior : Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
The Woman Warrior : Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts
Author: Maxine Hong Kingston
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 151


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback, Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback

1975

Edith Wharton: A Biography
Edith Wharton: A Biography
Author: R. W. B. Lewis
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 1


Other Versions: Hardcover, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback, Paperback