Ambassador Book Award

Given by English-Speaking Union of the United States

116 Works 209,131 Books 4,635 Reviews 4.0
Awarded by the English-Speaking Union of the United States
The ESU Ambassador Book Awards (ABA) recognize important literary works that contribute to the understanding and interpretation of American show more life and culture. ABA winners become 'literary ambassadors' providing people around the world with an important window on America's past and present in the best contemporary English.
Awards have been made since 1986 in a variety of categorie
Award website show less
Stages:
All, Winner (115), Shortlist (1)
Categories:
Years:
All, 2011 (5), 2010 (6), 2009 (5), 2008 (5), 2007 (6), 2006 (4), 2005 (5), 2004 (4), 2003 (4), 2002 (4), 2001 (5), 2000 (4), 1999 (4), 1998 (7), 1997 (4), 1996 (5), 1995 (4), 1994 (3), 1993 (4), 1992 (5), 1991 (4), 1990 (4), 1989 (4), 1988 (4), 1987 (5), 1986 (2)

Winner 115

WorkCategoryYear
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca SklootAmerican Studies2011
The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century by Alan BrinkleyBiography/Autobiography2011
The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg by Deborah EisenbergFiction2011
Every Riven Thing: Poems by Christian WimanPoetry2011
The Memory Chalet by Tony JudtSpecial Distinction Award2011
Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression by Morris DicksteinAmerican Studies2010
The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War by James MannAmerican Studies2010
Louis D. Brandeis: A Life by Melvin I. UrofskyBiography/Autobiography2010
Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCannFiction2010
Mercury Dressing: Poems by J. D. McClatchyPoetry2010
Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original by Robin D. G. KelleySpecial Distinction Award2010
A Summer of Hummingbirds: Love, Art, and Scandal in the Intersecting Worlds of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Martin Johnson Heade by Christopher BenfeyAmerican Studies2009
A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir by Donald WorsterBiography/Autobiography2009
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane MayerCurrent Affairs2009
Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories by Steven MillhauserFiction2009
Old War: Poems by Alan ShapiroPoetry2009
Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics by Rebecca SolnitAmerican Studies2008
Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties by Robert StoneAutobiography2008
Edith Wharton by Hermione LeeBiography2008
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin HamidFiction2008
Blackbird and Wolf: Poems by Henri ColePoetry2008
The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl by Timothy EganAmerican Studies2007
The Afterlife by Donald AntrimAutobiography2007
The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby ApplegateBiography2007
Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq by Thomas E. RicksCurrent Affairs2007
The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel by Amy HempelFiction2007
Averno: Poems by Louise GlückPoetry2007
A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America by Stacy SchiffAmerican Studies2006
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai BirdBiography/Autobiography2006
Liberation by Joanna ScottFiction2006
Migration: New & Selected Poems by W. S. MerwinPoetry2006
Washington's Crossing by David Hackett FischerAmerican Studies2005
de Kooning: An American Master by Mark StevensBiography/Autobiography2005
Gilead by Marilynne RobinsonFiction2005
Collected Poems by Donald JusticePoetry2005
They Marched Into Sunlight: War and Peace Vietnam and America October 1967 by David MaranissAmerican Studies2004
Hawthorne: A Life by Brenda WineappleBiography/Autobiography2004
The Time of Our Singing by Richard PowersFiction2004
Collected Poems by Robert LowellPoetry2004
In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 by Mary Beth NortonAmerican Studies2003
Jesse James, Last Rebel of the Civil War by T. J. StilesBiography/Autobiography2003
Middlesex by Jeffrey EugenidesFiction2003
Springing: New and Selected Poems by Marie PonsotPoetry2003
Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution by Diane McWhorterAmerican Studies2002
John Adams by David McCulloughBiography/Autobiography2002
Empire Falls by Richard RussoFiction2002
The Darkness and the Light: Poems by Anthony HechtPoetry2002
In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex by Nathaniel PhilbrickAmerican Studies2001
The Chief: the Life of William Randolph Hearst by David NasawBiography/Autobiography2001
The Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks by Russell BanksFiction2001
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume One: Henry Adams to Dorothy Parker by Robert HassPoetry2001
American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, Volume Two: E. E. Cummings to May Swenson by Robert HassPoetry2001
Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 by David M. KennedyAmerican Studies2000
Morgan: American Financier by Jean StrouseBiography/Autobiography2000
Close Range by Annie ProulxFiction2000
Vita Nova by Louise GlückPoetry2000
Slaves in the Family by Edward BallAmerican Studies1999
N. C. Wyeth: A Biography by David MichaelisBiography/Autobiography1999
I Married a Communist by Philip RothFiction1999
The Collected Poems of Robert Penn Warren by Robert Penn WarrenPoetry1999
American Visions: The Epic History of Art in America by Robert HughesAmerican Studies1998
Burning the Days: Recollection by James SalterAutobiography1998
American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. EllisBiography1998
Underworld by Peter ConradFiction1998
Underworld by Don DeLilloFiction1998
Black Zodiac: Poems by Charles WrightPoetry1998
God and the American Writer by Alfred KazinSpecial Prize1998
Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen E. AmbroseAmerican Studies1997
Taking on the World: Joseph and Stewart Alsop, Guardians of the American Century by Robert W. MerryBiography/Autobiography1997
In the Beauty of the Lilies by John UpdikeFiction1997
The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems, 1966-1996 by Robert PinskyPoetry1997
Moving Violations by John HockenberryAmerican Studies1996
Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography by David S. ReynoldsBiography/Autobiography1996
All the days and nights: the collected stories by William MaxwellFiction1996
Atlantis: Poems by by Mark DotyPoetry1996
The Liars' Club: A Memoir by Mary KarrSpecial Award1996
Speak Now Against The Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South by John EgertonAmerican Studies1995
No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns GoodwinBiography/Autobiography1995
The Collected Stories by Grace PaleyFiction1995
Like Most Revelations by Richard HowardPoetry1995
W. E. B. Du Bois, 1868-1919: Biography of a Race by David Levering LewisBiography/Autobiography1994
The Oracle at Stoneleigh Court : Stories by Peter TaylorFiction1994
Tesserae and Other Poems by John HollanderPoetry1994
Up in the Old Hotel by Joseph MitchellAmerican Arts & Letters1993
Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Garry WillsAmerican Studies1993
Archibald MacLeish; an American Life by Scott DonaldsonBiography/Autobiography1993
Outerbridge Reach by Robert Stone1993
The Journals of John Cheever by John CheeverAmerican Arts & Letters1992
The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev, 1960-1963 by Michael R. BeschlossAmerican Studies1992
Woodrow Wilson by August HeckscherBiography/Autobiography1992
A Thousand Acres by Jane SmileyFiction1992
American Views: Essays on American Art by John WilmerdingSpecial Prize1992
The House of Barrymore by Margot PetersAmerican Arts & Letters1991
New York Life: Of Friends and Others by Brendan GillAmerican Studies1991
The House of Morgan: An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance by Ron ChernowBiography/Autobiography1991
Killing Mister Watson by Peter MatthiessenFiction1991
The Writing Life by Annie DillardAmerican Arts & Letters1990
Among Schoolchildren by Tracy KidderAmerican Studies1990
This Boy's Life by Tobias WolffBiography/Autobiography1990
Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All by Allan GurganusFiction1990
At Home: Essays 1982-1988 by Gore VidalAmerican Arts & Letters1989
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil SheehanAmerican Studies1989
Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954–63 by Taylor BranchBiography/Autobiography1989
Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories by Raymond CarverFiction1989
The Collected Prose by Robert LowellAmerican Arts & Letters1988
Miami by Joan DidionAmerican Studies1988
Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright by Brendan GillBiography/Autobiography1988
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom WolfeFiction1988
Cities on a Hill: A Brilliant Exploration of Visonary Communities Remaking the American Dream by Frances FitzGeraldAmerican Studies1987
The Cycles of American History by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.American Studies1987
The Life of Langston Hughes. Volume 1, 1902–1941, I, Too, Sing America by Arnold RampersadBiography/Autobiography1987
Roger's Version by John UpdikeFiction1987
The Story of English by Robert McCrumSpecial Citation1987
Lake Wobegon Days by Garrison KeillorFiction1986
The Accidental Tourist by Anne TylerFiction1986

Shortlist 1

WorkCategoryYear
Washington Gone Crazy: Senator Pat McCarran and the Great American Communist Hunt by Michael J. YbarraAmerican Studies2005

Descriptions

Awarded by the English-Speaking Union of the United States
The ESU Ambassador Book Awards (ABA) recognize important literary works that contribute to the understanding and interpretation of American life and culture. ABA winners become 'literary ambassadors' providing people around the world with an important window on America's past and present in the best contemporary English.
Awards have been made since 1986 in a variety of categorie
Award website (English, Member-written)
discontinued (Russian, Member-written)

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