Ambassador Book Award

Ambassador Book Award
Awarded forLiterary and non-fiction works
CountryUnited States
Presented byEnglish-Speaking Union
First awarded1986

The Ambassador Book Award (1986–2011) was presented annually by the English-Speaking Union. It recognized important literary and non-fiction works that contributed to the understanding and interpretation of American life and culture. Winners of the award were considered literary ambassadors who provide, in the best contemporary English, an important window on America to the rest of the world. A panel of judges selected books out of new works in the fields of fiction, biography, autobiography, current affairs, American studies and poetry.

The award was established in 1986. Winners included books by such notable authors as Tom Wolfe (1988), Joan Didion (1988), Raymond Carver (1989), Gore Vidal (1989), John Cheever (1992), John Updike (1997),[1] Don Delillo (1998), Philip Roth (1999),[2] and Annie Proulx (2000).

Recipients

1986

  • Fiction - Lake Wobegon Days, by Garrison Keillor
  • Fiction - The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler

1987

  • American Studies - Cities on a Hill: A Journey Through Contemporary American Cultures, by Frances FitzGerald
  • American Studies - The Cycles of American History, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr
  • Biography & Autobiography - The Life of Langston Hughes, Volume I: 1902-1941: I, Too, Sing America, by Arnold Rampersad
  • Fiction - Roger's Version, by John Updike
  • Special Citation - The Story of English by Robert McCrum, William Cran and Robert MacNeil

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

1993

  • American Arts & Letters - Up in the Old Hotel, by Joseph Mitchell
  • American Studies - Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America, by Garry Wills
  • Biography & Autobiography - Archibald MacLeish: An American Life, by Scott Donaldson
  • Fiction - Outerbridge Reach, by Robert Stone

1994

1995

  • American Studies - Speak Now Against the Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South, by John Egerton
  • Biography & Autobiography - No Ordinary Time Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • Fiction - The Collected Stories, by Grace Paley
  • Poetry - Like Most Revelations, by Richard Howard

1996

1997

1998

  • American Studies - American Visions, by Robert Hughes
  • Autobiography - Burning the Days: Recollection, by James Salter
  • Biography - American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson, by Joseph Ellis
  • Fiction - Underworld, by Don DeLillo
  • Poetry - Black Zodiac, by Charles Wright

1999

2000

  • American Studies - Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945, by David M. Kennedy
  • Biography & Autobiography - Morgan: American Financier, by Jean Strouse
  • Fiction - Close Range: Wyoming Stories, by Annie Proulx
  • Literary Achievement - The Best Short Stories of the Twentieth Century by John Updike
  • Poetry - Vita Nova, by Louise Glück

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

  • American Studies - A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America, by Stacy Schiff
  • Biography & Autobiography - American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin
  • Fiction - Liberation: A Novel, by Joanna Scott
  • Poetry - Migration, by W.S. Merwin

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

References

  1. ^ "John Updike bio and awards at American Literature Web Resources". Archived from the original on 2008-07-04. Retrieved 2008-08-08.
  2. ^ Houghton Mifflin list of awards won by Philip Roth

External links

  • Ambassador Book Award, official website.