| Titles | Order |
| The Plains of Passage by Jean M. Auel | |
| Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand | Finalist |
| Kill the Messenger by Robert Kelly | Poetry, 1980 |
| Walter Lippmann and the American Century by Ronald Steel | History, 1980 |
| The Second Coming: A Novel by Walker Percy | Fiction, 1980 |
| Without Fear or Favor: The New York Times and Its Times by Harrison E. Salisbury | General Award, 1980 |
| Three Pieces by Ntozake Shange | Poetry, 1981 |
| Land of Savagery, Land of Promise: The European Image of the American Frontier in the Nineteenth Century by Ray Allen Billington | History, 1981 |
| The White Hotel by D. M. Thomas | Fiction, 1981 |
| Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number by Jacobo Timerman | Current Interest, 1981 |
| Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theo by David McCullough | Biography, 1981 |
| Waldo Emerson by Gay Wilson Allen | Biography, 1982 |
| Plutonian Ode: And Other Poems 1977-1980 (City Lights Pocket Poets Series) by Allen Ginsberg | Poetry, 1982 |
| The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution by Jonathan D. Spence | History, 1982 |
| A Flag for Sunrise by Robert Stone | Fiction, 1982 |
| The Fate of the Earth by Jonathan Schell | Current Interest, 1982 |
| The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill | Poetry, 1983 |
| The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century Volume 2 by Fernand Braudel | History, 1983 |
| Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally | Fiction, 1983 |
| Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book by Walker Percy | Current Interest, 1983 |
| The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House by Seymour M. Hersh | Biography, 1983 |
| The Maximus Poems by Charles Olson | Poetry, 1984 |
| The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History by Robert Darnton | History, 1984 |
| The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera | Fiction, 1984 |
| Cities and the Wealth of Nations by Jane Jacobs | Current Interest, 1984 |
| The Nightmare of Reason: A Life of Franz Kafka by Ernst Pawel | Biography, 1984 |
| Cross Ties: Selected Poems by X. J. Kennedy | Poetry, 1985 |
| Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. Connell | History, 1985 |
| Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich | Fiction, 1985 |
| Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life by Robert N. Bellah | Current Interest, 1985 |
| Solzhenitsyn: A Biography by Michael Scammell | Biography, 1985 |
| Collected Poems, 1948-1984 by Derek Walcott | Poetry, 1986 |
| The First Socialist Society: A History of the Soviet Union from Within, Second Edition by Geoffrey Hosking | History, 1986 |
| The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood | Fiction, 1986 |
| Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White by Joseph Lelyveld | Current Interest, 1986 |
| Alexander Pope: A Life by Maynard Mack | Biography, 1986 |
| Partial Accounts by William Meredith | Poetry, 1987 |
| Fools Crow by James Welch | Fiction, 1987 |
| The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins | Current Interest, 1987 |
| Hemingway by Kenneth S. Lynn | Biography, 1987 |
| New and Collected Poems by Richard Wilbur | Poetry, 1988 |
| Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 by Eric Foner | History, 1988 |
| Love in The Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez | Fiction, 1988 |
| Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country by William Greider | Current Interest, 1988 |
| Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom by Brenda Maddox | Biography, 1988 |
| Peacemaking among Primates by Frans B. M. de Waal | Science and Technology, 1989 |
| The One Day by Donald Hall | Poetry, 1989 |
| An Empire of Their Own: How the Jews Invented Hollywood by Neal Gabler | History, 1989 |
| The Heart of the Country by Fay Weldon | Fiction, 1989 |
| Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63 by Taylor Branch | Current Interest, 1989 |
| This Boy's Life: A Memoir by Tobias Wolff | Biography, 1989 |
| Patenting the Sun: Polio and the Salk Vacine by Jane S. Smith | Science and Technology, 1990 |
| The Color of Mesabi Bones: Poems and Prose Poems by John Caddy | Poetry, 1990 |
| The Quest for El Cid by Richard Fletcher | History, 1990 |
| Lantern Slides by Edna O'Brien | Fiction, 1990 |
| Disappearing Through the Skylight: Culture and Technology in the Twentieth Century by Jr. O. B. Hardison | Current Interest, 1990 |
| A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt by Geoffrey C. Ward | Biography, 1990 |
| Pangs of Love by David Wong Louie | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1991 |
| The Truth About Chernobyl by Grigori Medvedev | Science and Technology, 1991 |
| What Work Is by Philip Levine | Poetry, 1991 |
| The Promised Land: The Great Migration and How It Changed America by Nicholas Lehmann | History, 1991 |
| White People by Allan Gurganus | Fiction, 1991 |
| Why Americans Hate Politics by E. J. Dionne | Current Interest, 1991 |
| Righteous Pilgrim: The Life and Times of Harold L. Ickes, 1874-1952 by T. H. Watkins | Biography, 1991 |
| High Cotton by Darryl Pinkney | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1992 |
| An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991 by Adrienne Cecile Rich | Poetry, 1992 |
| The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal by Jared M. Diamond | Science and Technology, 1992 |
| Benevolence and Betrayal: Five Italian Jewish Families Under Fascism by Alexander Stille | History, 1992 |
| Maus II: A Survivor's Tale: And Here My Troubles Began by Art Spiegelman | Fiction, 1992 |
| The End of History and the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama | Current Interest, 1992 |
| Eleanor Roosevelt, Vol. 1: 1884-1933 by Blanche Wiesen Cook | Biography, 1992 |
| Love: Enter by Paul Kafka-Gibbons | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1993 |
| Fuzzy Logic: The Revolutionary Computer Technology That Is Changing Our World by Daniel Mcneill | Science and Technology, 1993 |
| My Alexandria by Mark Doty | Poetry, 1993 |
| New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery by Anthony Grafton | History, 1993 |
| Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver | Fiction, 1993 |
| Mexican Americans: The Ambivalent Minority by Peter Skerry | Current Interest, 1993 |
| Daniel Boone: The Life and Legend of an American Pioneer (An Owl Book) by John Mack Faragher | Biography, 1993 |
| Remembering Babylon by David Malouf | Fiction, 1994 |
| Year of the Frog: A Novel by Martin M. Simecka | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1994 |
| The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner | Science and Technology, 1994 |
| The Angel of History by Carolyn Forché | Poetry, 1994 |
| Gay New York by George Chauncey | History, 1994 |
| Diplomacy by Henry Kissinger | Current Interest, 1994 |
| Shot in the Heart by Mikal Gilmore | Biography, 1994 |
| American Studies by Mark Merlis | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1995 |
| Naturalist by Edward O. Wilson | Science and Technology, 1995 |
| Inferno by Dante Alighieri | (Pinsky Translation) Poetry, 1995 |
| Fables of Abundance: A Cultural History of Advertising in America by Jackson Lears | History, 1995 |
| The Blue Afternoon by William Boyd | Fiction, 1995 |
| Life on the Color Line: The True Story of a White Boy Who Discovered He Was Black by Gregory Howard Williams | Current Interest, 1995 |
| Under My Skin: Volume One of My Autobiography, to 1949 by Doris May Lessing | Biography, 1995 |
| The Smell of Apples by Mark Behr | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1996 |
| The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan | Science and Technology, 1996 |
| Mixed Company by Alan Shapiro | Poetry, 1996 |
| Black Sea by Neal Ascherson | History, 1996 |
| A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry | Fiction, 1996 |
| Love Thy Neighbor: A Story of War by Peter Maass | Current Interest, 1996 |
| Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt | Biography, 1996 |
| Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes | 1997 |
| Don't Erase Me: Stories by Carolyn Ferrell | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1997 |
| How the Mind Works by Steven Pinker | Science and Technology, 1997 |
| Black Zodiac: Poems by Charles Wright | Poetry, 1997 |
| A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924 by Orlando Figes | History, 1997 |
| In the Rogue Blood by J Blake | Fiction, 1997 |
| The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman | Current Interest, 1997 |
| Whittaker Chambers: A Biography by Sam Tanenhaus | Biography, 1997 |
| Kalimantaan by C. S. Godshalk | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1998 |
| Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer | Young Adult Fiction, 1998 |
| Blood: An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce by Douglas Starr | Science and Technology, 1998 |
| Mysteries of Small Houses by Alice Notley | Poetry, 1998 |
| The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity by Roy Porter | History, 1998 |
| The Rings of Saturn by W. G. Sebald | Fiction, 1998 |
| We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda by Philip Gourevitch | Current Interest, 1998 |
| Lindbergh by A. Scott Berg | Biography, 1998 |
| Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 1999 |
| Frenchtown Summer by Robert Cormier | Young Adult Fiction, 1999 |
| Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel | Science and Technology, 1999 |
| Repair: Poems by C. K. Williams | Poetry, 1999 |
| Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II by John W. Dower | History, 1999 |
| A strange and sublime address by Amit Chaudhuri | Fiction, 1999 |
| Sidewalk by Mitchell Duneier | Current Interest, 1999 |
| Secrets of the Flesh: A Life of Colette by Judith Thurman | Biography, 1999 |
| The Romantics: A Novel by Pankaj Mishra | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2000 |
| Miracle's Boys by Jacqueline Woodson | Young Adult Fiction, 2000 |
| The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine by James Le Fanu | Science and Technology, 2000 |
| The Throne of Labdacus: A Poem by Gjertrud Schnackenberg | Poetry, 2000 |
| A Place of Execution by Val McDermid | Mystery/Thriller, 2000 |
| The Collaborator by Alice Kaplan | History, 2000 |
| Assorted Fire Events: Stories by David Means | Fiction, 2000 |
| Way Out There In the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War by Frances FitzGerald | Current Interest, 2000 |
| Jefferson Davis, American by William J. Cooper | Biography, 2000 |
| The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2001 |
| The Land by Mildred D. Taylor | Young Adult Fiction, 2001 |
| The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies by Richard Hamblyn | Science and Technology, 2001 |
| The Beauty of the Husband: A Fictional Essay in 29 Tangos by Anne Carson | Poetry, 2001 |
| Silent Joe by T. Jefferson Parker | Mystery/Thriller, 2001 |
| Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus by Rick Perlstein | History, 2001 |
| Why Did I Ever by Mary Robison | Fiction, 2001 |
| Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich | Current Interest, 2001 |
| Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris | Biography, 2001 |
| Prague by Arthur Phillips | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2002 |
| Feed by M. T. Anderson | Young Adult Fiction, 2002 |
| Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox | Science and Technology, 2002 |
| The Watercourse by Cynthia Zarin | Poetry, 2002 |
| Hell to Pay by George P. Pelecanos | Mystery/Thriller, 2002 |
| Six Days of War by Michael B. Oren | History, 2002 |
| Atonement by Ian McEwan | Fiction, 2002 |
| Harmful to Minors: The Perils of Protecting Children from Sex by Judith Levine | Current Interest, 2002 |
| Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert A. Caro | Biography, 2002 |
| Wings of Madness: Alberto Santos-Dumont and the Invention of Flight by Paul Hoffman | Finalist 2003 |
| A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly | Young Adult Fiction, 2003 |
| Protecting America's Health: The FDA, Business, and One Hundred Years of Regulation by Philip J. Hilts | Science and Technology, 2003 |
| Collected Later Poems by Anthony Hecht | Poetry, 2003 |
| Soul Circus by George Pelecanos | Mystery/Thriller, 2003 |
| An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America by Henry Weincek | History, 2003 |
| The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2003 |
| The New Chinese Empire: And What it Means for the United States by Ross Terrill | Current Interest, 2003 |
| Train by Pete Dexter | Fiction, 2003 |
| American Empire by Neil Smith | Biography, 2003 |
| Doing It by Melvin Burgess | Young Adult Fiction, 2004 |
| The Whale and the Supercomputer: On the Northern Front of Climate Change by Charles Wohlforth | Science and Technology, 2004 |
| Inner Voices: Selected Poems, 1963-2003 by Richard Howard | Poetry, 2004 |
| Tijuana Straits: A Novel by Kem Nunn | Mystery/Thriller, 2004 |
| Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime from The Sedition Act of 1798 to The War on Terrorism by Geoffrey R. Stone | History, 2004 |
| Harbor by Lorraine Adams | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2004 |
| The Master by Colm Tóibín | Fiction, 2004 |
| Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright | Current Interest, 2004 |
| de Kooning: An American Master by Mark Stevens | Biography, 2004 |
| You & You & You by Per Nilsson | Young Adult Fiction, 2005 |
| Before the Fallout: From Marie Curie to Hiroshima by Diana Preston | Science and Technology, 2005 |
| Refusing Heaven by Jack Gilbert | Poetry, 2005 |
| Legends by Robert Littell | Mystery/Thriller, 2005 |
| Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild | History, 2005 |
| Beasts of No Nation: A Novel (P.S.) by Uzodinma Iweala | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2005 |
| Memories of my Melancholy Whores by Gabriel García Márquez | Fiction, 2005 |
| Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War by Anthony Shadid | Current Interest, 2005 |
| Matisse the Master: A Life of Henri Matisse: The Conquest of Colour: 1909-1954 by Hilary Spurling | Biography, 2005 |
| Echo Park by Michael Connelly | Mystery/Thriller, 2006 |
| Tyrell by Coe Booth | Young Adult Fiction, 2006 |
| In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind by Eric R. Kandel | Science and Technology, 2006 |
| Ooga-Booga: Poems by Frederick Seidel | Poetry, 2006 |
| The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright | History, 2006 |
| White Ghost Girls by Alice Greenway | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2006 |
| A Woman in Jerusalem by A. B. Yehoshua | Fiction, 2006 |
| Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance by Ian Buruma | Current Interest, 2006 |
| Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler | Biography, 2006 |
| A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve | Young Adult Literature, 2007 |
| I Am a Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter | Science & Technology, 2007 |
| Old Heart: Poems by Stanley Plumly | Poetry, 2007 |
| Calling Out For You by Karin Fossum | Mystery/Thriller, 2007 |
| Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by Tim Weiner | History, 2007 |
| The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2007 |
| Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan | Fiction, 2007 |
| Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet | Current Interest, 2007 |
| Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore | Biography, 2007 |
| Nation by Terry Pratchett | Young Adult Literature, 2008 |
| The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics by Leonard Susskind | Science & Technology, 2008 |
| Watching the Spring Festival: Poems by Frank Bidart | Poetry, 2008 |
| Envy the Night by Michael Koryta | Mystery/Thriller, 2008 |
| Hitler's Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe by Mark Mazower | History, 2008 |
| The Night of the Mi'raj by Zoe Ferraris | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2008 |
| Home by Marilynne Robinson | Fiction, 2008 |
| Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Barton Gellman | Current Interest, 2008 |
| Ida: A Sword Among Lions by Paula J. Giddings | Biography, 2008 |
| American Rust by Philipp Meyer | Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, 2009 |
| Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli | Graphic Novel, 2009 |
| Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits by Linda Gordon | Biography, 2009 |
| The Ghosts of Belfast by Stuart Neville | Mystery/Thriller, 2009 |
| Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963 (Americans and the California Dream) by Kevin Starr | History, 2009 |
| A Happy Marriage: A Novel by Rafael Yglesias | Fiction, 2009 |
| Marching For Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary by Elizabeth Partridge | Young Adult Literature, 2009 |
| Practical Water (Wesleyan Poetry) by Brenda Hillman | Poetry, 2009 |
| The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom by Graham Farmelo | Science and Technology, 2009 |
| Zeitoun by Dave Eggers | Current Interest, 2009 |
| A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan | Fiction, 2011 |