Founded in 1974, the National Book Critics Circle’s mission is to inspire nationwide awareness and discussion about exceptional writing. Award categories include fiction, nonfiction, biography, autobiography, poetry, and criticism. This collection of study guides highlights fiction and nonfiction books for adults honored by the NBCCA, both winners and finalists.
Publication year 1997
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Science & Technology, Values/Ideas: Order & Chaos, Values/Ideas: Truth & Lies, Society: Politics & Government, Society: Economics, Life/Time: Mortality & Death, Emotions/Behavior: Grief, Natural World: Environment
Tags History: European, Journalism, Natural Disaster, Science / Nature, Agriculture, Business / Economics, Food, Education, Grief / Death, History: World, Military / War, Poverty, Politics / Government, Social Justice, Russian Literature, Biography
Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster by Svetlana Alexievich is a collection of 35 first-person oral accounts of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former Soviet Union. Originally published in Russian in 1997, the book was translated into English by Keith Gessen in 2005; it has been translated into almost every European language. Alexievich, a Belarusian investigative journalist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for Voices from Chernobyl in... Read Voices from Chernobyl Summary
Publication year 1998
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Loyalty & Betrayal, Society: Colonialism, Society: Class, Emotions/Behavior: Hate & Anger, Emotions/Behavior: Fear, Society: Politics & Government
Tags History: African , Journalism, Military / War, Politics / Government, Trauma / Abuse / Violence, History: World, Biography
We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families: Stories from Rwanda (1998) describes the Hutu majority’s slaughter of at least 800,000 Tutsis in 100 days in 1994—with author and journalist Philip Gourevitch documenting the meticulous planning behind the genocide. Gourevitch chastises the international community, especially the United States and France, for failing to stop the genocide in accordance with obligations under the Genocide Convention. Visiting Rwanda one year after... Read We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families Summary
Publication year 2016
Genre Book, Nonfiction
Themes Values/Ideas: Justice & Injustice, Society: Community
Tags Sociology, Politics / Government, Black Lives Matter, Race / Racism, History: U.S., History: World, Social Justice
Carol Anderson's 2016 nonfiction book, White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, looks at the way African-American progress has been halted and repressed, again and again, by a powerful cocktail of economic self-interest, fear, and hatred on the part of America's white elites, a philosophy she calls "white rage." The book’s five chapters examine five crucial turning points in the African-American struggle for freedom and equality: Reconstruction and the abolition of slavery, the... Read White Rage Summary
Publication year 2009
Genre Novel, Fiction
Tags Historical Fiction, British Literature, History: World, History: European
Hillary Mantel’s Wolf Hall is the first in a trilogy of historical novels depicting life in the court of King Henry VIII. The story takes place in England during the tumultuous 1520s, and is told from the perspective of Thomas Cromwell, one of the king’s most trusted advisors. Mantel conducted extensive research to ensure historical authenticity and continuity, providing a rich account of the events leading up to the beginning of the English Reformation. Wolf... Read Wolf Hall Summary