LibGuides: National Book Awards: 1980s

1980-1989

1980

Winner

Lauren Bacall By Myself by Lauren Bacall

Finalists

I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can by Barbara Gordon
Front & Center by John Houseman
Obituaries by William Saroyan

Winner

Max Perkins : Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg

Finalists

Samuel Johnson : a Biography by W> Jackson Bate
American Caesar : Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 by William Manchester
Robert Kennedy and His Times by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

American Caesar : Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964

American Caesar : Douglas Macarthur, 1880-1964 by William Manchester
Call Number: 355.331 M116n (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780316544986
Publication Date: 1978-09-30
MacArthur, Douglas, 1880-1964.
United States. Army -- Biography.
Generals -- United States -- Biography.
United States -- History, Military -- 20th century.

Robert Kennedy and His Times

Robert Kennedy and His Times by Arthur M. Schlesinger
Call Number: 973.922 K36s (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780395248973
Publication Date: 1978-10-27
Kennedy, Robert F., 1925-1968.
United States. Congress. Senate -- Biography.
Legislators -- United States -- Biography.
United States -- Politics and government, 1945-

Winner

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle
Call Number: J-Fiction LE (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780312368562
Publication Date: 2007-05-01
The youngest of the Murry children must travel through time and space in a battle against an evil dictator who would destroy the entire universe.
A Swiftly Tilting Planet [CD] by Madeleine L'Engle (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction LE (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780739349168
Publication Date: 2007-05-08

Finalists

Alan and Naomi by Myran Levoy
Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katerine Paterson
Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or, There Must Be More to Life by Maurice Sendak

Frog and Toad Are Friends

Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel
Call Number: Easy LO (Easy Fiction)
Publication Date: 1970
Five tales recounting the adventures of two best friends - Frog and Toad.

The Great Gilly Hopkins

Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Call Number: Juv F PAT (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780690038378
Publication Date: 1978-03-29
An eleven-year-old foster child tries to cope with her longings and fears as she schemes against everyone who tries to be friendly.

Winner

Sophie's Choice by William Styron

Sophie's Choice by William Styron
Call Number: Fiction S938s (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394461090
Publication Date: 1979-04-12
Sophie’s Choice centers on three characters: Stingo, a sexually frustrated aspiring novelist; Nathan, his charismatic but violent Jewish neighbor; and Sophie, an Auschwitz survivor who is Nathan’s lover. Their entanglement in one another’s lives will build to a stirring revelation of agonizing secrets that will change them forever.

Finalists

Just Above My Head by James Baldwin
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth
Endless Love by Scott Spencer

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Call Number: Fiction M219e (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780316544177
Publication Date: 1979-10-01
Re-creates the crime, trial and events leading to the execution of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, who requested the death sentence.

1981

Winner

Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary

Ramona and Her Mother (Ramona Quimby #5) by Beverly Cleary; Alan Tiegreen (Illustrator); Tracy Dockray (Illustrator); Jacqueline Rogers (Illustrator)
Call Number: Juv F CLE Q5 (Juvenile fiction)
ISBN: 9780688221959
Publication Date: 2013-03-19
Ramona at 7 1/2 sometimes feels discriminated against by being the youngest in the family.
Ramona and Her Mother [CD] (Ramona Quimby #5) by Beverly Cleary; Stockard Channing (Read by)
Call Number: J-CD Fiction CL (Juvenile Audiobook CD)
ISBN: 9780739338957
Publication Date: 2007-04-10

Finalists

All Together Now by Sue Ellen Bridgers
Tex by S. E. Hinton
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Tex

S. E. Hinton Classic Collection [OverDrive E-Book] by S. E. Hinton
Call Number: OverDrive E-Book
ISBN: 9781626815223
Publication Date: 2014-10-14
In RUMBLE FISH, two brothers discover how the bond of blood can be as tight as a noose. In TAMING THE STAR RUNNER, a horse provides the opportunity for escape to a troubled young writer. In TEX, a boy goes looking for trouble and might find redemption instead. And in SOME OF TIM'S STORIES, a bartender recounts the story of two lives torn apart by tragedy.

Winner

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever
Call Number: YA F CHE-J (Young adult fiction)
ISBN: 9780394500874
Publication Date: 1978-10-12
A collection of sixty-one of Cheever's short stories, including four that have never been published in book form.

Finalists

The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan
The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Endless Love by Scott Spencer
War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk

The Year of the French

The Year of the French [Kindle] by Thomas Flanagan
Call Number: Kindle-0573
ISBN: 9781590176863
Publication Date: 2005, 1979
In 1789, Irish patriots, committed to freeing their country from England, landed with a company of French troops in County Mayo, in westernmost Ireland. They were supposed to be an advance guard, followed by other French ships with the leader of the rebellion, Wolfe Tone. Briefly they triumphed, raising hopes among the impoverished local peasantry and gathering a group of supporters. But before long the insurgency collapsed in the face of a brutal English counterattack.

The Executioner's Song

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer
Call Number: Fiction M219e (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780316544177
Publication Date: 1979-10-01
Re-creates the crime, trial and events leading to the execution of convicted murderer Gary Gilmore, who requested the death sentence.

Winner

China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston

Finalists

The Dream of the Golden Mountains by Malcolm Cowley
From a Limestone Ledge by John Graves
Naming Names by Victor S. Navasky
American Dreams : Lost & Found by Studs Terkel

From a Limestone Ledge

From a Limestone Ledge by John Graves; Glenn Wolff (Illustrator)
Call Number: 976.4 G776f (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780394512389
Publication Date: 1980-10-12
Graves, John, 1920-
Country life -- Texas.
Authors, American -- 20th century -- General biography.

Winner

The Panda's Thumb : More Reflections on Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

The Panda's Thumb : moe reflections in natural history by Stephen Jay Gould
Call Number: 575 G698p (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780393013801
Publication Date: 1980-10-01
Evolution -- History.
Natural selection -- History.

Finalists

The Abyss of Time by Claude C. Albritton, Jr.
Galaxies by Timothy Ferris
Cosmos by Carl Sagan

1982

Winner

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough
Call Number: 973.911 R781m (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780671227111
Publication Date: 1981-06-30
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 -- Childhood and youth.
Presidents -- United States -- Biography.

Finalists

Waldo Emerson by Gay WIlson Allen
Jefferson and His Time : the Sage of Monticello by Dumas Malone
Grant : a Biography by William S. McFeely
The Beechers by Milton Rugoff

Waldo Emerson

Waldo Emerson by Gay W. Allen
Call Number: 814.3 E53a (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780670748662
Publication Date: 1981-10-29
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 1803-1882.
Authors, American -- 19th century -- Biography.
Transcendentalists (New England) -- Biography.

Winner

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy VAN (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780395304488
Publication Date: 1981-04-27
Left on their own for an afternoon, two bored and restless children find more excitement than they bargained for in a mysterious and mystical jungle adventure board game.

Finalists

A Farmer's Alphabet by Mary Azarian
Hosie's Zoo by Leonard Baskin
Aesop's Fables by Heidi Holder
Images of Age by Michael Jacques

Winner

Rabbit is Rich by John Updike

Finalists

Jambo Means Hello : Swahili Alphabet Book by Muriel and Tom Feelings
Ellis Island and Other Stories by Mark Helprin
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
The Fledgling by Jane Langton
The Peaceable Kingdom : the Shaker Abecedarius by Alice and Martin Provensen
The Angry Moon by William Sleator and Blair Lent
A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone
Stanley and Rhoda by Rosemary Wells
Dad by William Wharton

Jambo Means Hello

Jambo Means Hello : Swahili alphabet book by Muriel L. Feelings; Tom Feelings (Illustrator)
Call Number: Easy FE (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780140546521
Publication Date: 1992-07-15
Presents a word, with English translation, for each of the twenty-four letters in the Swahili alphabet.

The Fledgling

The Fledgling by Jane Langton
Call Number: J-Fiction LA (Juvenile Fiction)
ISBN: 9780060236793
Publication Date: 1980-04-08
Georgie's fondest hope, to be able to fly, is fleetingly fulfilled when she is befriended by a Canada goose.

The Angry Moon

The Angry Moon by William Sleator
Call Number: Easy SL (Easy Fiction)
ISBN: 9780316797375
Publication Date: 1970
An Indian girl insults the moon and is held prisoner by him until her friend reaches the sky country to rescue her.

Dad

Dad : a novel by William Wharton
Call Number: Fiction W554d (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394510972
Publication Date: 1981-05-12
Middle-aged John Tremont must cope with a mother who is dying, a father who is withdrawing, and a son who is impatient for adulthood.

Winner

Naming Names by Victor S. Navasky

Finalists

Anatomy of an Illness : as Perceived by the Patient by Norman Cousins
African Calliope : a Journey to the Sudan by Edward Hoagland
Great Expectations : America & the Baby Boom Generation by Landon Y. Jones
Nature and Culture : American Landscape Painting, 1825-1875 by Barbara Novak

Anatomy of an Illness

Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient by Norman Cousins; Rene Jules Dubos (Illustrator)
Call Number: 362.1967 C867c (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780393012521
Publication Date: 1979-09-01
Cousins, Norman.
Collagen diseases -- Patients -- United States -- Biography.
Holistic medicine.
Will.
Laughter -- Physiological aspects.
Healing.
Medicine -- Philosophy.
Authors, American -- Biography.

1983

Winner

Isak Dinesen : the Life of a Storyteller by Judith Thurman

Isak Dinesen : the life of a story teller by Judith Thurman
Call Number: 839.8137 D583t (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780312437374
Publication Date: 1982-09-01
Dinesen, Isak, 1885-1962 -- Biography.
Authors, Danish -- 20th century -- Biography.

Finalists

Growing Up by Russell Baker
The Path to Power : the Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro
Tumultuous Years : the Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1949-1953 by Robert J. Donovan
Sketches from Life : the Early Years by Lewis Mumford

Growing Up

Growing Up by Russell Baker
Call Number: 070 B168g (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780312922672
Publication Date: 1982-10-01
Baker, Russell, 1925- -- Biography -- YOuth
Authors, American -- 20th century -- Biography.
Journalists -- United States -- Biography.

The Path to Power : the Years of Lyndon Johnson

The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1: The Path to Power by Robert A. Caro
Call Number: 973.923 J67bo v.1
ISBN: 9780394499734
Publication Date: 1982-11-12
Traces Johnson's life from his Texas childhood through his rise to political power and his successful 1948 senatorial campaign.
Volume 1: The Path to Power.
Volume 2: Means of Ascent.
Volume 3: Master of the Senate.
Volume 4: The Passage of Power.

Winner

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

The Color Purple by Alice Walker
Call Number: FIC WALKE ALI CO (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780151191543
Publication Date: 1992-05-22
Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by the society around her and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters directly to God. The letters, spanning twenty years, record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment guided by the light of a few strong women. She meets Shug Avery, her husband’s mistress and a jazz singer with a zest for life, and her stepson’s wife, Sophia, who challenges her to fight for independence. And though the many letters from Celie’s sister are hidden by her husband, Nettie’s unwavering support will prove to be the most breathtaking of all.
The Color Purple Collection [OverDrive E-Book] by Alice Walker
Call Number: FIC WALKE ALI COP Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781453276433
Publication Date: 2012-09-11
CONTENTS: The Color purple -- The Temple of my familiar -- Possessing the secret of joy.

Finalists

A Mother and Two Daughers by Gail Godwin
Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason
The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler

A Mother and Two Daughters

A Mother and Two Daughters by Gail Godwin
Call Number: Fiction G591m (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780670490219
Publication Date: 1982-01-08
A portrait of the continued growth of three women following the death of their husband and father.

The Mosquito Coast

The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux
Call Number: Fiction T412m (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780395318379
Publication Date: 1982-02-01
Disgusted with modern American culture, Allie Fox takes his family to live in the jungles of Central America.

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Call Number: Fiction T981d (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394523811
Publication Date: 1982-03-12
Cody, Jenny, and Ezra, who were deserted by their father and raised by their angry mother, go their separate ways but meet again for their mother's funeral.

Winner

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty

The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty by Eudora Welty
Call Number: Fiction W464c (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780151189946
Publication Date: 1980-10-29
CONTENTS: Lily Daw and the three ladies--A piece of news-Petrified man--The key--Keela, the outcast Indian maiden--etc.

Finalists

The Chaneysville Incident by David Bradley
The Company of Women by Mary Gordon
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone

The Company of Women

The Company of Women [Kindle] by Mary Gordon
Call Number: Kindle-0602
ISBN: 9780394505084
Publication Date: 1981-02-12
The Company of Women is a story of dangerous attachments and challenged faith—and of finding an endurable future.

Winner

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor
Call Number: Fiction N333w (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780670778553
Publication Date: 1982-06-02
In her heralded first novel, Gloria Naylor weaves together the stories of seven women living in Brewster Place, a bleak-inner city sanctuary, creating a powerful, moving portrait of the strengths, struggles, and hopes of black women in America. Vulnerable and resilient, openhanded and openhearted, these women forge their lives in a place that in turn threatens and protects—a common prison and a shared home.

Finalists

Matters of Chance by Gail Albert
My Old Sweetheart by Susanna Moore
Almost Famous by David Small
The 13th Valley by John M. Del Vecchio

Winner

National Defense by James Fallows

Finalists

Joe McCarthy and the Press by Edwin R. Bayley
Abroad by Paul Fussell
Everything We Had : an Oral History of the Vietnam War by Al Santoli
Pioneer Women : Voices from the Kansas Frontier by Joanna L. Stratton

Pioneer Women : Voices from the Kansas Frontier

Pioneer Women : voices from the Kansas frontier by Joanna Stratton; Arthur M. Schlesinger (Introduction by)
Call Number: G-KS Reminisences Women (Genealogy Collection)
ISBN: 9780671447489
Publication Date: 1982-09-17
Women pioneers -- Kansas -- History.

1984

Winner

Victory over Japan : a Book of Stories by Ellen Gilchrist

Finalists

Foreign Affairrs by Alison Lurie
The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth

Foreign Affairs

Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie
Call Number: Fiction L967f (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394540764
Publication Date: 1984-08-12
Relates in alternating chapters, the affairs Vinnie Miner and Fred Turner have while they live in London.

Anatomy Lesson

The Anatomy Lesson by Philip Roth
Call Number: Fiction R845an (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 0374104913
Publication Date: 1983-01-01
The writer Nathan Zukerman comes down with a mysterious physical affliction--pure pain, beginning in his neck and shoulders, invading his torso and taking possession of his life. Zukerman, whose work was his life, is unable to write a line. Now his work is trekking from one doctor to the next--from orthopedist to osteopath to neurologist to psychiatrist--but none can find a cause for the pain and nobody can assuage it.

Winner

Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr

Stones for Ibarra by Harriet Doerr
Call Number: Fiction D652s (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780670192038
Publication Date: 1984-01-03
Richard and Sara Everton, just over and just under forty, have come to the small Mexican village of Ibarra to reopen a copper mine abandoned by Richard’s grandfather fifty years before. They have mortgaged, sold, borrowed, left friends and country, to settle in this remote spot; their plan is to live out their lives here, connected to the place and to each other. The two Americans, the only foreigners in Ibarra, live among people who both respect and misunderstand them. And gradually the villagers--at first enigmas to the Evertons--come to teach them much about life and the relentless tide of fate.

Finalists

Tapping the Source by Kem Nunn
Edisto by Padgett Powell

Winner

Andrew Johnson & the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845 by Robert V. Remini

Finalists

Becoming William James by Howard M. Feinstein
Thomas More by Richard Marius
The Nightmare of Reason : a Life of Franz Kafka by Ernst Pawel
One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty

Thomas More : a Biography

Thomas More : a biography by Richard Marius
Call Number: 942.052 M836m (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780394459820
Publication Date: 1984-10-12
More, Thomas, Sir, Saint, 1478-1535.
Statesmen -- Great Britain -- Biography.
Christian martyrs -- England -- Biography.
Humanists -- England -- Biography.
Great Britain -- History -- Henry VIII, 1509-1547 -- Biography.

The Nightmare of Reason : a Life of Franz Kafka

The Nightmare of Reason : a life of Franz Kafka by Ernst Pawel
Call Number: 833.912 K11p (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780374222369
Publication Date: 1984-06-01
Kafka, Franz, 1883-1924 -- Biography.
Authors, Austrian -- 20th century -- Biography.

One Writer's Beginnings

One Writer's Beginnings by Eudora Welty
Call Number: 813.52 W464w (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780674639256
Publication Date: 1984-02-20
The autobiography of the fiction writer whose honors include the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for fiction.

1985

Winner

White Noise by Don DeLillo

White Noise by Don DeLillo
Call Number: FIC DELIL DON WH (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780670803736
Publication Date: 1985-01-21
The Gladney's family life is disrupted and threatened when an industrial accident sends a lethal cloud over their community. Jack Gladney struggles with the ensuing complications which include murder.

Finalists

Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Tree of Life by Hugh Nissenson

Winner

Easy in the Islands by Bob Shacochis

Finalists

Slow Dancing by Elizabeth Benedict
Face by Cecile Pineda

Winner

Common Ground : a Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony Lukas

Common Ground : a turbulent decade in the lives of three American families by J. Anthony Lukas
Call Number: 370.1934 L954c (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780394411507
Publication Date: 1985-08-12
Describes events in the lives of three families during the 1968 Boston school integration crisis.
Common ground [E-Book] : a turbulent decade in the lives of three American families by Anthony Lukas
Call Number: 370.1934 L954c Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780307823755
Publication Date: 2012

Finalists

In the Name of Eugenics by Daniel J. Kevles
...The Heavens and the Earth : a Political History of the Space Age by Walter A. McDougall

1986

Winner

World's Fair by E. L. Doctorow

Finalists

Whites by Norman Rush
A Summons to Memphis by Peter Taylor

Winner

Arctic Dreams by Barry Lopez

Finalists

War Without Mercy : Race and Power in the Pacific War by John W. Dower
The Paper : the Life and Death of the New York Herald Tribue by Richard Kluger
The Young Hemingway by Michael Reynolds
Tombee : Portrait of a Cotton Planter by Theodore Rosengarten

1987

Winner

Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann

Finalists

That Night by Alice McDermott
Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Northern Lights by Howard Norman
The Counterlife by Philip Roth

That Night

That Night [Kindle] : a novel by Alice McDermott
Call Number: Kindle-767
ISBN: 9780385333306
Publication Date: 1999-01-12
The emotionally powerful story of young love set in suburban Long Island in the 60s.

Beloved

Beloved by Toni Morrison
Call Number: FIC MORRI TON BE (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394535975
Publication Date: 1987-08-12
Sethe, an escaped slave who now lives in post-Civil War Ohio, has borne the unthinkable and works hard at "beating back the past." She struggles to keep Beloved, an intruder, from gaining possession of her present while throwing off the legacy of her past.
Beloved [E-Book] by Toni Morrison
Call Number: FIC MORRI TON BE Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9780307388629
Publication Date: 2007

Winner

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhode

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Lee Rhodes
Call Number: 623.4511 R477m (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780671441333
Publication Date: 1987-02-15
Describes in human, political, and scientific detail the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the power of the atom, to the first bombs dropped on Japan.

Finalists

Look Homeward : a Life of Thomas Wolfe by David Herbert Donald
Chaos : Making a New Science by James Gleick
Mothers in the Fatherland by Claudia Koonz
New York 1930 : Architcture and Urbanism Between the Two World Wars by Robert A. M. Stern, Gregory GIlmartin, and Thomas Mellins

1988

Winner

Paris Trout by Pete Dexter

Paris Trout by Pete Dexter
Call Number: Fiction D527p (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394563701
Publication Date: 1988-07-12
Tells of the murder of a fourteen-year -old black girl by a white man in a small town in Georgia just after World War II.

Finalists

Libra by Don DeLillo
Vanished by Mary McGarry Morris
Wheat That Springeth Green by James F. Powers
Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler

Wheat That Springeth Green

Wheat That Springeth Green by J. F. Powers
Call Number: Fiction P888w (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394496092
Publication Date: 1988-08-12
The story of Joe Hackett, a priest who wanted to become a saint but instead became an alcoholic with a suburban parish. He is wrong to consider himself a flop.
Wheat That Springeth Green [Kindle] by J. F. Powers
Call Number: Kindle--0863
ISBN: 9781590176580
Publication Date: 2000

Breathing Lessons

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler
Call Number: Fiction T981b (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394572345
Publication Date: 1988-08-12
While driving to the funeral of a friend, a couple married twenty-eight years examine the expectations and disappointments of their marriage.

Winner

A Bright Shining Lie : John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan

A Bright Shining Lie : John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil Sheehan
Call Number: BIO VANN JOHP S (Adult biography)
ISBN: 9780394484471
Publication Date: 1988-09-12
The story of Lt. Col. John Paul Vann, who went to Vietnam in 1962 and served as a civilian worker in the pacification program until his death in 1972.

Finalists

Reconstruction : America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner
The Enlightenment : an Interpretation by Peter Gay
Nora : the Real Life of Molly Bloom by Brenda Maddox
Jefferson and Monticello : the Biography of a Builder by Jack McLaughlin

Reconstruction : America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877

Reconstruction : America's unfinished revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner
Call Number: 973.8 F673r (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780060158514
Publication Date: 1988-05-01
Chronicles how Americans responded to the changes unleashed by the Civil War and the end of slavery.

The Enlightenment, an Interpretation

The Enlightenment, An Interpretation, Volume 1 : the rise of modern paganism by Peter Gay
Call Number: 190.9033 G285e (Adult Nonfiction)
Publication Date: 1965
Enlightenment -- Europe.
Philosophy -- History.
Europe -- Intellectual life.

Nora : the Real Life of Molly Bloom

Nora : the real life of Molly Bloom by Brenda Maddox
Call Number: 823.912 J89n (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780395365106
Publication Date: 1988-06-01
Joyce, Nora Barnacle, 1884-1951.
Joyce, James, 1882-1941 -- Biography -- Marriage.
Authors, Irish -- 20th century -- Biography.
Authors' wives -- Ireland -- Biography.

1989

Winner

Spartina by John Casey

Finalists

Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow
Geek Love by Katherine Dunn
Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Oscar Hijuelos
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan

Billy Bathgate

Billy Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow
Call Number: FIC DOCTO EL BI (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780394575131
Publication Date: 1989-04-26
The story of Billy Bathgate, a boy who has insinuated himself into the inner circle of the notorious Dutch Schultz gang to become apprentice and protege to one of the great murdering gangsters.

Geek Love

Geek Love [Kindle] by Katherine Dunn
Call Number: Kindle-0543
ISBN: 9781417574933
Publication Date: 1999-01-01
Here is the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a circus-geek family whose matriarch and patriarch have bred their own exhibit of human oddities (with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes). Their offspring include Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan . . . Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins . . . albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious—and dangerous—asset. As the Binewskis take their act across the backwaters of the U.S., inspiring fanatical devotion and murderous revulsion; as its members conduct their own Machiavellian version of sibling rivalry, Geek Love throws its sulfurous light on our notions of the freakish and the normal, the beautiful and the ugly, the holy and the obscene. Family values will never be the same.
Geek Love [OverDrive E-Book] : a novel by Katherine Dunn
Call Number: OverDrive E-Book
ISBN: 9780307794482
Publication Date: 2011-05-25

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love by Óscar Hijuelos
Call Number: FIC HIJUE OSCA MA (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780060955458
Publication Date: 2003-12-23
Brothers Nestor and Cesar Camillo arrive from Cuba in 1949 with dreams of becoming famous mambo musicians. This memorable novel traces the arc of the two brothers’ lives—one charismatic and macho, the other soulful and sensitive—from Havana to New York, from East Coast clubs and dance halls to the heights of musical fame.

The Joy Luck Club

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Call Number: FIC TAN AMY JO (Adult Fiction)
ISBN: 9780399134203
Publication Date: 1989-03-22
In 1949 four Chinese women began meeting in San Francisco to play mah jong. They called their gathering the Joy Luck Club. Forty years later they look back and remember.
The Joy Luck Club [E-Book] by Amy Tan
Call Number: FIC TAN AMY JO Ebook (OverDrive)
ISBN: 9781101502730
Publication Date: 2006

Winner

From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman

From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L. Friedman
Call Number: 956.94 F911f (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780374158941
Publication Date: 1989-05-01
Friedman, Thomas L. -- Journeys -- Middle East.
Israel-Arab conflicts.
Jewish-Arab relations -- 1973-
Middle East -- Politics and government -- 1979-
Lebanon -- History -- Israeli intervention, 1982-1984.
Lebanon -- Politics and government -- 1975-
Israel -- Politics and government.

Finalists

Parting the Waters : America in the King Years, 1954-63 by Taylor Branch
Danger and Survival : Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty Years by McGeorge Bundy
Barbarian Sentiments : How the American Century Ends by William Pfaff
Mother Country : Britain, the Welfare State and Nuclear Pollution by Marilynne Robinson

Parting the Waters : America in the King Years, 1954-63

Parting the Waters : America in the King years, 1954-63 by Taylor Branch
Call Number: 973.0496 B816p (Adult Nonfiction)
ISBN: 9780671687427
Publication Date: 1989-11-15
Chronicles the civil rights struggle from the twilight of the Eisenhower years through the assassination of President Kennedy.

National Book Awards

1980

Winner

Lauren Bacall By Myself by Lauren Bacall

Finalists

Winner

Max Perkins : Editor of Genius by A. Scott Berg

Finalists

Samuel Johnson : a Biography by W> Jackson Bate

American Caesar : Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964 by William Manchester

Robert Kennedy and His Times by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.

American Caesar : Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964

Robert Kennedy and His Times

Winner

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle

Finalists

Alan and Naomi by Myran Levoy

Frog and Toad Are Friends by Arnold Lobel

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katerine Paterson

Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or, There Must Be More to Life by Maurice Sendak

Frog and Toad Are Friends

The Great Gilly Hopkins

Winner

Sophie's Choice by William Styron

Finalists

Just Above My Head by James Baldwin

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

The Ghost Writer by Philip Roth

Endless Love by Scott Spencer

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

1981

Winner

Ramona and Her Mother by Beverly Cleary

Finalists

All Together Now by Sue Ellen Bridgers

Tex by S. E. Hinton

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Tex

Winner

The Stories of John Cheever by John Cheever

Finalists

The Year of the French by Thomas Flanagan

The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer

Endless Love by Scott Spencer

War and Remembrance by Herman Wouk

The Year of the French

The Executioner's Song

Winner

China Men by Maxine Hong Kingston

Finalists

The Dream of the Golden Mountains by Malcolm Cowley

From a Limestone Ledge by John Graves

Naming Names by Victor S. Navasky

American Dreams : Lost & Found by Studs Terkel

From a Limestone Ledge

Winner

The Panda's Thumb : More Reflections on Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould

Finalists

The Abyss of Time by Claude C. Albritton, Jr.

Galaxies by Timothy Ferris

Cosmos by Carl Sagan

1982

Winner

Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough

Finalists

Waldo Emerson by Gay WIlson Allen

Jefferson and His Time : the Sage of Monticello by Dumas Malone

Grant : a Biography by William S. McFeely

The Beechers by Milton Rugoff

Waldo Emerson

Winner

Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg

Finalists

A Farmer's Alphabet by Mary Azarian

Hosie's Zoo by Leonard Baskin

Aesop's Fables by Heidi Holder

Images of Age by Michael Jacques

Winner

Rabbit is Rich by John Updike

Finalists