Book AwardsRobert F. Kennedy Book Award

Book awards by cover

Works (84)

TitlesOrder
March: Books 1-3 by John Lewis
Civilities and Civil Rights : Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom by William H. Chafe1981
Drylongso: A Self-Portrait of Black America by John Langston GwaltneyHonorable Mention, 1981
Power and Powerlessness: Quiescence & Rebellion in an Appalachian Valley by John GaventaHonorable Mention, 1981
The Child Savers: The Invention of Delinquency (Phoenix Book) by Anthony M. PlattWinner, 1982
The Pursuit of a Dream by Janet Sharp HermannWinner, 1982
The Fate of the Earth by Jonathan SchellHonorable Mention, 1983
Let the Trumpet Sound: A Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Stephen B. OatesWinner, 1983
Baseball's Great Experiment: Jackie Robinson and His Legacy by Jules TygielHonorable Mention, 1984
Children of War by Roger RosenblattWinner, 1984
The Crucible of Race: Black-White Relations in the American South since Emancipation by Joel WilliamsonHonorable Mention, 1985
A Rage for Order: Black-White Relations in the American South since Emancipation (Galaxy Books) by Joel WilliamsonHonorable Mention, 1985
Sitting in Darkness: Americans in the Philippines by David Haward BainHonorable Mention, 1985
Weakness & Deceit: U.S. Policy and El Salvador by Raymond BonnerWinner, 1985
Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony LukasWinner, 1986
Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee by Robert J. NorrellWinner, 1986
Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference by David J. GarrowWinner, 1987
The Political Life of Children by Robert ColesHonorable Mention, 1987
When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution by Elizabeth BeckerHonorable Mention, 1987
Beloved by Toni MorrisonWinner, 1988
The brutality of nations by Dan JacobsHonorable Mention, 1988
Freedom Song: A Personal Story of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement by Mary King1988
Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage by Pauli MurrayWinner, 1988
A Bright Shining Lie I by Neil Sheehan1989
A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam by Neil SheehanWinner, 1989
Rachel and Her Children: Homeless Families in America by Jonathan KozolWinner, 1989
Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage by Lisbeth SchorrHonorable Mention, 1989
Among Schoolchildren by Tracy KidderWinner, 1990
Big Sugar: Seasons in the Canefields of Florida by Alec WilkinsonWinner, 1990
The Crosswinds of Freedom by James MacGregor BurnsHonorable Mention, 1990
The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest by Andrew RevkinWinner, 1991
The Long Haul: An Autobiography by Myles HortonWinner, 1991
Life in the Ghetto by Anika D. ThomasSpecial Recognition, 1992
Praying for Sheetrock: A Work of Nonfiction by Melissa Fay GreeneWinner, 1992
The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America by Nicholas LemannHonorable Mention, 1992
When the Bough Breaks: The Cost of Neglecting Our Children by Sylvia Ann HewlettHonorable Mention, 1992
Earth in the Balance by Al GoreWinner, 1993
In My Place by Charlayne Hunter-GaultHonorable Mention, 1993
Rethinking Social Policy: Race, Poverty, and the Underclass by Christopher JencksHonorable Mention, 1993
Taming the Storm by Jack BassWinner, 1994
Speak Now Against The Day: The Generation Before the Civil Rights Movement in the South by John EgertonWinner, 1995
Warriors Don't Cry: A Searing Memoir of the Battle to Integrate Little Rock's Central High by Melba Pattillo BealsRunner-Up, 1995
Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, And Justice In A Southern Town by Pete EarleyWinner, 1996
The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics by Dan T. CarterWinner, 1996
Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice by David M. Oshinsky1997
Race, Crime, and the Law by Randall KennedyWinner, 1998
The Soldiers' Tale: Bearing Witness to a Modern War by Samuel HynesWinner, 1998
The Children by David HalberstamDistinguished Honor, 1999
Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement by John LewisWinner, 1999
With Liberty For Some: 500 Years of Imprisonment in America by Scott ChristiansonDistinguished Honor, 1999
Mandela: The Authorized Biography by Anthony SampsonWinner, 2000
No Shame in My Game: The Working Poor in the Inner City by Katherine S. NewmanWinner, 2000
Blood of the Liberals by George PackerWinner, 2001
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America by James AllenWinner, 2001
American Patriots: The Story of Blacks in the Military from the Revolution to Desert Storm by Gail Lumet BuckleyWinner, 2002
Brotherhoods of Color : Black Railroad Workers and the Struggle for Equality by Eric ArnesenWinner, 2002
"A Problem from Hell": America and the Age of Genocide by Samantha PowerWinner, 2003
At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America by Philip DrayWinner, 2003
Death of Innocence: The Story of the Hate Crime That Changed America by Mamie Till-MobleySpecial Recognition, 2004
Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty by Scott Turow2004
Perilous Times: Free Speech in Wartime: From the Sedition Act of 1798 to the War on Terrorism by Geoffrey R. StoneWinner, 2005
We Are All the Same: A Story of a Boy's Courage and a Mother's Love by Jim WootenWinner, 2005
Children At War by P. W. SingerDistinguished Honors, 2006
Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America by Nick KotzDistinguished Honors, 2006
Mirror to America: The Autobiography of John Hope Franklin by John Hope FranklinWinner, 2006
At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68 by Taylor BranchDistinguished Honors, 2007
The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley2007
Going Down Jericho Road: The Memphis Strike, Martin Luther King's Last Campaign by Michael K. Honey2008
The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How The War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer2009
Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History by Karl JacobyHonorable Mention, 2009
Ordinary Injustice: How America Holds Court by Amy Bach2010
Zeitoun by Dave EggersDistinguished Honor, 2010
The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis2011
The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions Are Changing World Politics (The Norton Series in World Politics) by Kathryn Sikkink2012
The Price of Inequality: How Today's Divided Society Endangers Our Future by Joseph E. StiglitzWinner, 2013
The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind and Changed the History of Free Speech in America by Thomas Healy2014
The Crusades of Cesar Chavez: A Biography by Miriam Pawel2015
Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss2016
Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond — not in English Common Knowledge2017
The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy B. Tyson — not in English Common Knowledge2018
Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America by Peter Edelman — not in English Common Knowledge2018
American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer — not in English Common Knowledge2019
Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan M. Metzl2020
Unworthy Republic: The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt — not in English Common Knowledge2021