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), Don Delillo (1998), Philip Roth (1999),Houghton Mifflin list of awards won by Philip Roth 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 American Arts & Letters - Collected Prose, by Robert Lowell American Studies - Miami, by Joan Didion Biography & Autobiography - Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright, by Brendan Gill Fiction - The Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe Special Citation - Blues by John Hersey
1989 American Arts & Letters - At Home: Essays 1982-1988, by Gore Vidal American Studies - A Bright Shining Lie John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam, by Neil Sheehan Biography & Autobiography - Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-1963, by Taylor Branch Fiction - Where I'm Calling From: New and Selected Stories, by Raymond Carver
1990 American Arts & Letters - The Writing Life, by Annie Dillard American Studies - Among Schoolchildren, by Tracy Kidder Biography & Autobiography - This Boy's Life: A Memoir, by Tobias Wolff Fiction - Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, by Allan Gurganus
1991 American Arts & Letters - The House of Barrymore, by Margot Peters American Studies - A New York Life, by Brendan Gill Biography & Autobiography - The House of Morgan, by Ron Chernow Fiction - Killing Mr. Watson, by Peter Matthiessen
1992 American Arts & Letters - The Journals of John Cheever, by John Cheever American Studies - The Crisis Years: Kennedy and Khrushchev : 1960 - 1963, by Michael Beschloss Biography & Autobiography - Woodrow Wilson, by August Heckscher Fiction - A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley Special Prize - American Views: Essays on American Art by John Wilmerding
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 American Studies - Around the Cragged Hill A Personal and Political Philosophy, by George F. Kennan Biography & Autobiography - W. E. B. Du Bois: Biography of a Race 1868-1919, by David Levering Lewis Fiction - The Oracle at Stoneleigh Court, by Peter Taylor Poetry - Tesserae & Other Poems, by John Hollander
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 American Studies - Moving Violations: War Zones, Wheelchairs and Declarations of Independence, by John Hockenberry Biography & Autobiography - Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography, by David S. Reynolds Fiction - All the Days and Nights, by William Maxwell Poetry - Atlantis, by Mark Doty Special Award - The Liar's Club by Mary Karr
1997 American Studies - Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson and the Opening of the American West, by Stephen E. Ambrose Biography & Autobiography - Taking on the World: Joseph and Stewart Alsop- Guardians of the American Century, by Robert W. Merry Fiction - In the Beauty of the Lilies, by John Updike Poetry - The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems, 1966 - 1996, by Robert Pinsky
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 American Studies - Slaves in the Family, by Edward Ball Biography & Autobiography - N.C. Wyeth, by David Michaelis Fiction - I Married a Communist, by Philip Roth Poetry - The Collected Poems of Robert Penn Warren, by John Burt
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 American Studies - In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, by Nathaniel Philbrick Biography & Autobiography - The Chief: The Life of William Randolph Hearst, by David Nasaw Lifetime Achievement - Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. Fiction - Angel on the Roof: The Stories of Russell Banks, by Russell Banks Poetry - American Poetry: The Twentieth Century, 2 vols., by Hass, Hollander, Kizer, Mackey, Perloff
2002 American Studies - Carry Me Home: Birmingham, Alabama, the Climactic Battle of the Civil Rights Revolution, by Diane McWhorter Biography & Autobiography - John Adams, by David McCullough Lifetime Achievement - Hortense Calisher Fiction - Empire Falls, by Richard Russo Poetry - The Darkness and the Light, by Anthony Hecht
2003 Fiction - Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides American Studies - In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, by Mary Beth Norton Biography & Autobiography - Jesse James: Last Rebel of the Civil War, by T. J. Stiles Poetry - Springing, New and Selected Poems, by Marie Ponsot Lifetime Achievement - Edmund S. Morgan
2004 American Studies - They Marched into Sunlight, by David Maraniss Biography & Autobiography - Hawthorne, A Life, by Brenda Wineapple Fiction - The Time of Our Singing, by Richard Powers Poetry - Robert Lowell: Collected Poems, edited by Frank Bidart & David Gewanter Distinguished Achievement Award - Robert A. Caro
2005 American Studies - Washington's Crossing, by David Hackett Fischer Biography & Autobiography - De Kooning: An American Master, by Mark Stevens Fiction - Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson Poetry - Collected Poems, by Donald Justice
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 American Studies - The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl, by Timothy Egan Autobiography - The Afterlife: A Memoir, by Donald Antrim Biography - The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher, by Debby Applegate Current Affairs - Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq, by Thomas E. Ricks Fiction - The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel, by Amy Hempel Poetry - Averno, by Louise Glück Lifetime Achievement - Garry Wills
2008 American Studies - Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics, by Rebecca Solnit Autobiography - Prime Green: Remembering the Sixties, by Robert Stone Biography - Edith Wharton, by Hermione Lee Fiction - The Reluctant Fundamentalist, by Mohsin Hamid Poetry - Blackbird and Wolf, by Henri Cole Lifetime Achievement - John Ashbery
2009 American Studies - A Summer of Hummingbirds, by Christopher Benfey Biography and Autobiography - A Passion for Nature: The Life of John Muir, by Donald Worster Current Affairs - The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, by Jane Mayer Fiction - Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories, by Steven Millhauser Poetry - Old War, by Alan Shapiro Special Award - Toni Morrison
2010 American Studies - The Rebellion of Ronald Reagan: A History of the End of the Cold War, by James Mann American Studies - Dancing in the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression, by Morris Dickstein Biography and Autobiography - Louis D. Brandeis: A Life, by Melvin Urofsky Fiction - Let the Great World Spin, by Colum McCann Poetry - Mercury Dressing, by J. D. McClatchy Special Distinction Award - Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, by Robin D. G. Kelley
2011 American Studies - The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot Biography and Autobiography - The Publisher: Henry Luce and His American Century, by Alan Brinkley Fiction - The Collected Stories of Deborah Eisenberg, by Deborah Eisenberg Poetry - Every Riven Thing: Poems, by Christian Wiman Special Distinction Award - The Memory Chalet, by Tony Judt
References
External links Ambassador Book Award, official website.