National Book Critics Circle Award – Biography

2003 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerKhrushchev: The Man and His EraWilliam TaubmanA portrait of the head of the Soviet Union whose rule followed Stalin's identifies his impact on the country and the rest of the world, tracing his efforts to reform communism and ease the Cold War....Amazon2003 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistA Tragic Honesty: The Life and Work of Richard YatesBlake BaileyAmazonJonathan Edwards: A LifeGeorge MarsdenAmazonLucia Joyce: To Dance in the WakeCarol Loeb ShlossAmazonThe Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American PilgrimagePaul ElieAmazon

2004 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography Winnerde Kooning: An American MasterMark Stevens and Annalyn SwanTraces the career of abstract expressionist Willem De Kooning, discussing his personal life with wife Elaine Fried, and his battle with alcoholism and Alzheimer's disease....Amazon2004 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistAlexander HamiltonRon ChernowAmazonChronicles: Vol. 1Bob DylanAmazonQueen of Scots: The True Life of Mary StuartJohn GuyAmazonWill in the World: How Shakespeare Became ShakespeareStephen GreenblattAmazon

2005 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerAmerican Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert OppenheimerKai Bird and Martin J. SherwinJ. Robert Oppenheimer is one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb for his country in a time of war, and who later found himself confronting the moral consequences of scientific pr...Amazon2005 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistLee Miller: A LifeCarolyn BurkeAmazonLike a Fiery Elephant: The Story of B.S. JohnsonJonathan CoeAmazonMark Twain: A LifeRon PowersAmazonTeam of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham LincolnDoris Kearns GoodwinAmazon

2006 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerJames Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. SheldonJulie PhillipsJames Tiptree, Jr. burst onto the science fiction scene in the 1970s with a series of hard-edged, provocative short stories. Hailed as a brilliant masculine writer with a deep sympathy for his female characters, he penned such classics as Houston, Houston,...Amazon2006 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistA Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest TravelerJason RobertsAmazonAt Canaan’s Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968Taylor BranchAmazonFlaubert: A BiographyFrederick BrownAmazonThe Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward BeecherDebby ApplegateAmazon

2007 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerStanley: The Impossible Life of Africa’s Greatest ExplorerTim JealHenry Morton Stanley was a cruel imperialist - a bad man of Africa. Or so we think: but as Tim Jeal brilliantly shows, the reality of Stanley's life is yet more extraordinary. Few people know of his dazzling trans-Africa journey, a heart-breaking epic of h...Amazon2007 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistEdith WhartonHermione LeeAmazonRalph EllisonArnold RampersadAmazonThe Life Of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932John RichardsonAmazonThomas HardyClaire TomalinAmazon

2008 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerThe World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. NaipaulPatrick FrenchThis is the first major biography of V.S. Naipaul, Nobel Prize winner and one of the most compelling literary figures of the last fifty years. With great feeling for his formidable body of work, and exclusive access to his private papers and personal recol...Amazon2008 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistIda, A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against LynchingPaula J. GiddingsAmazonThe Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in an American CenturySteve CollAmazonThe Hemingses of Monticello: An American FamilyAnnette Gordon-ReedAmazonWhite Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson & Thomas Wentworth HigginsonBrenda WineappleAmazon

2009 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerCheever: A LifeBlake BaileyJohn Cheever was one of the foremost chroniclers of post-war America, a peerless writer who on his death in 1982 left some of the best short stories of the twentieth century, a number of highly acclaimed novels, and a private journal that runs to an astoni...Amazon2009 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistBitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio SiloneStanislao G. PuglieseAmazonFlannery: A Life of Flannery O’ConnorBrad GoochAmazonPassing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color LineMartha A. SandweissAmazonWhy This World: A Biography of Clarice LispectorBenjamin MoserAmazon

2011 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerGeorge F. Kennan: An American LifeJohn Lewis GaddisA portrait of the Cold War strategist offers insight into his complex, troubled character while tracing his role in defining U.S. policy, covering his critical views on American diplomacy and his struggles with depression....Amazon2011 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistDeng Xiaoping and the Transformation of ChinaEzra F. VogelAmazonHemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost , 1934-1961Paul HendricksonAmazonLove and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of the RevolutionMary GabrielAmazonMalcolm X: A Life of ReinventionManning MarableAmazon

2012 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography WinnerThe Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon JohnsonRobert A. CaroExamines Lyndon Johnson's volatile relationships with John and Robert Kennedy, describes JFK's assassination from Johnson's viewpoint, and recounts his accomplishments as president before they were overshadowed by the Vietnam War....Amazon2012 National Book Critics Circle Award - Biography ShortlistAll We Know: Three LivesLisa CohenAmazonPortrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American MasterpieceMichael GorraAmazonRobert Duncan, The Ambassador from Venus: A BiographyLisa JarnotAmazonThe Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte CristoTom ReissAmazon