National Book Critics Circle Award Biography/Autobiography Winners and Finalists 1983-1999

1.
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1)
Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt, #1) 4.15 avg rating — 650,953 ratings
2.
Charles Ives: A Life with Music
Charles Ives: A Life with Music 4.39 avg rating — 145 ratings
3.
Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity
Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity 3.95 avg rating — 215 ratings
4.
Truman
Truman 4.17 avg rating — 90,310 ratings
5.
Patrimony
Patrimony 4.21 avg rating — 6,017 ratings
6.
Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #2)
Means of Ascent (The Years of Lyndon Johnson, #2) 4.28 avg rating — 27,106 ratings
7.
The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White
The Hairstons: An American Family in Black and White 4.25 avg rating — 451 ratings
8.
Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834
Coleridge: Darker Reflections, 1804-1834 4.49 avg rating — 227 ratings
9.
Morgan: American Financier
Morgan: American Financier 4.01 avg rating — 1,325 ratings
10.
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette
Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette 3.88 avg rating — 1,723 ratings
11.
The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times
The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind the New York Times 4.04 avg rating — 202 ratings
12.
A Beautiful Mind
A Beautiful Mind 4.13 avg rating — 134,372 ratings
13.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. 4.16 avg rating — 35,589 ratings
14.
Rocket Boys: A Memoir (The Coalwood Series #1)
Rocket Boys: A Memoir (The Coalwood Series #1) 4.20 avg rating — 23,603 ratings
15.
King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero
King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero 4.26 avg rating — 4,842 ratings
16.
Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story
Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story 4.06 avg rating — 2,561 ratings
17.
Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II
Ernie Pyle's War: America's Eyewitness to World War II 4.21 avg rating — 525 ratings
18.
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson 3.94 avg rating — 28,832 ratings
19.
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf 4.01 avg rating — 4,894 ratings
20.
Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949 - 1962
Walking in the Shade: Volume Two of My Autobiography, 1949 - 1962 4.03 avg rating — 412 ratings
21.
Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography
Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography 4.15 avg rating — 124 ratings
22.
Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn
Lush Life: A Biography of Billy Strayhorn 4.32 avg rating — 738 ratings
23.
The Last Happy Occasion
The Last Happy Occasion 3.73 avg rating — 26 ratings
24.
Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson (NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER)
Savage Art: A Biography of Jim Thompson (NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER) 4.17 avg rating — 598 ratings
25.
Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence
Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs, and Declarations of Independence 4.08 avg rating — 530 ratings
26.
The Liars' Club
The Liars' Club
by: Mary Karr
3.94 avg rating — 71,039 ratings
27.
Walt Whitman's America
Walt Whitman's America 4.15 avg rating — 603 ratings
28.
Emerson: The Mind on Fire (Centennial Books)
Emerson: The Mind on Fire (Centennial Books) 4.43 avg rating — 745 ratings
29.
Shot in the Heart
Shot in the Heart 4.18 avg rating — 3,796 ratings
30.
Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life
Toulouse-Lautrec: A Life 4.16 avg rating — 212 ratings
31.
D.H. Lawrence: The Story of a Marriage
D.H. Lawrence: The Story of a Marriage 4.11 avg rating — 75 ratings
32.
Naturalist
Naturalist 4.33 avg rating — 1,782 ratings
33.
Genet
Genet 4.21 avg rating — 701 ratings
34.
A Different Person: A Memoir
A Different Person: A Memoir 3.89 avg rating — 84 ratings
35.
Passion of Michel Foucault
Passion of Michel Foucault 3.98 avg rating — 367 ratings
36.
French Lessons: A Memoir
French Lessons: A Memoir 3.68 avg rating — 902 ratings
37.
W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919
W.E.B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race, 1868-1919 4.38 avg rating — 2,420 ratings
38.
Writing Dangerously: Mary McCarthy And Her World
Writing Dangerously: Mary McCarthy And Her World 4.02 avg rating — 43 ratings
39.
The Rascal King: The Life And Times Of James Michael Curley (1874-1958)
The Rascal King: The Life And Times Of James Michael Curley (1874-1958) 4.16 avg rating — 177 ratings
40.
Looking For The Light: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott
Looking For The Light: The Hidden Life and Art of Marion Post Wolcott 4.15 avg rating — 20 ratings
41.
Kissinger
Kissinger really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 5,022 ratings
42.
The Journals of John Cheever
The Journals of John Cheever 4.20 avg rating — 822 ratings
43.
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan
The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan 4.03 avg rating — 8,789 ratings
44.
Anne Sexton: A Biography
Anne Sexton: A Biography 4.17 avg rating — 4,026 ratings
45.
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2)
Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began (Maus, #2) 4.42 avg rating — 156,028 ratings
46.
Strong Drink, Strong Language
Strong Drink, Strong Language 4.20 avg rating — 5 ratings
47.
The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends, 1880-1918
The Five of Hearts: An Intimate Portrait of Henry Adams and His Friends, 1880-1918 4.19 avg rating — 153 ratings
48.
A Hole in the World: An American Boyhood
A Hole in the World: An American Boyhood 3.95 avg rating — 257 ratings
49.
Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874 - 1952
Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874 - 1952 4.33 avg rating — 27 ratings
50.
A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt
A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt 4.45 avg rating — 118 ratings
51.
God Gave Us This Country: Tekamthi and the First American Civil War
God Gave Us This Country: Tekamthi and the First American Civil War really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 29 ratings
52.
Glenn Gould: A Life and Variations
Glenn Gould: A Life and Variations 4.03 avg rating — 156 ratings
53.
Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician
Richard Milhous Nixon: The Rise of an American Politician 4.05 avg rating — 61 ratings
54.
This Boy's Life
This Boy's Life 3.97 avg rating — 30,188 ratings
55.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde 4.01 avg rating — 5,107 ratings
56.
Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir
Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir 4.37 avg rating — 2,888 ratings
57.
Letters of T.S. Eliot: Volume 1: 1898-1922, Revised Edition
Letters of T.S. Eliot: Volume 1: 1898-1922, Revised Edition 4.25 avg rating — 4 ratings
58.
Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information
Three Scientists and Their Gods: Looking for Meaning in an Age of Information 3.76 avg rating — 174 ratings
59.
Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World
Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World 4.02 avg rating — 57 ratings
60.
An American Childhood
An American Childhood 3.91 avg rating — 10,425 ratings
61.
Don't Tread on Me: The Selected Letters
Don't Tread on Me: The Selected Letters 3.90 avg rating — 41 ratings
62.
Private Domain: An Autobiography
Private Domain: An Autobiography 3.94 avg rating — 54 ratings
63.
Timebends: A Life
Timebends: A Life 3.94 avg rating — 559 ratings
64.
The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941, I, Too, Sing America
The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume I: 1902-1941, I, Too, Sing America 4.49 avg rating — 215 ratings
65.
Velázquez: Painter and Courtier
Velázquez: Painter and Courtier 4.20 avg rating — 46 ratings
66.
Tombee: Portrait of a Cotton Planter : With the Journal of Thomas B. Chaplin (1822-1890)
Tombee: Portrait of a Cotton Planter : With the Journal of Thomas B. Chaplin (1822-1890) 4.02 avg rating — 52 ratings
67.
Maus I: Un Survivant Raconte: Mon Père Saigne L'histoire
Maus I: Un Survivant Raconte: Mon Père Saigne L'histoire 4.39 avg rating — 365,579 ratings
68.
Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860-1865
Dostoevsky: The Stir of Liberation, 1860-1865 4.49 avg rating — 210 ratings
69.
Henry James: A Life
Henry James: A Life
by: Leon Edel
4.28 avg rating — 252 ratings
70.
Louise Bogan: A Portrait
Louise Bogan: A Portrait really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 12 ratings
71.
Giacometti: A Biography
Giacometti: A Biography 4.24 avg rating — 139 ratings
72.
Brigham Young: American Moses
Brigham Young: American Moses 3.99 avg rating — 541 ratings
73.
Visible Light
Visible Light 3.12 avg rating — 16 ratings
74.
Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850-1859
Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850-1859 4.51 avg rating — 265 ratings
75.
Home Before Dark (Contemporary Classics
Home Before Dark (Contemporary Classics 3.87 avg rating — 373 ratings
76.
Josephine Herbst
Josephine Herbst 3.73 avg rating — 11 ratings
77.
One Writer's Beginnings
One Writer's Beginnings 4.07 avg rating — 4,047 ratings
78.
Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir
Minor Characters: A Beat Memoir 4.07 avg rating — 2,830 ratings
79.
Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just
Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just 4.08 avg rating — 85 ratings
80.
Eleni
Eleni 4.42 avg rating — 2,723 ratings
81.
The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths
The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeths 3.33 avg rating — 18 ratings
82.
Thomas Carlyle: A Biography
Thomas Carlyle: A Biography really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 14 ratings
83.
Walt Whitman: The Making of the Poet
Walt Whitman: The Making of the Poet 4.07 avg rating — 28 ratings