Books 1981

TitleAuthorShortlisted
Midnight's ChildrenSalman Rushdie
Booker Prize for Fiction winner
Silver's CityMaurice Leitch
Costa Book Award for Novel winner
The Snow QueenJoan D. Vinge
Hugo Award for Best Novel winner
A Confederacy of DuncesJohn Kennedy Toole
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winner
EndiabradosDionélio Machado
Prêmio Jabuti Romance Literário winner
Plains SongWright Morris
National Book Award for Fiction winner
The Stories of John CheeverJohn Cheever
National Book Award for Fiction winner
Walt Whitman: A LifeJustin Kaplan
National Book Award for Nonfiction winner
Samuel Beckett: A BiographyDeirdre Bair
National Book Award for Nonfiction winner
China MenMaxine Hong Kingston
National Book Award for Nonfiction winner
The Last Cowboy: Europeans and The Politics of MemoryJane Kramer
National Book Award for Nonfiction winner
Christianity, Social Tolerance and HomosexualityJohn Boswell
National Book Award for Nonfiction winner
Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of SlaveryLeon F. Litwack
National Book Award for Nonfiction winner
So Long, See You TomorrowWilliam Maxwell
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction shortlisted
Good BehaviourMolly Keane
Booker Prize for Fiction shortlisted
The Sirian ExperimentsDoris Lessing
Booker Prize for Fiction shortlisted
The Comfort of StrangersIan McEwan
Booker Prize for Fiction shortlisted
Rhine JourneyAnn Schlee
Booker Prize for Fiction shortlisted
Loitering with IntentMuriel Spark
Booker Prize for Fiction shortlisted
The White HotelD. M. Thomas
Booker Prize for Fiction shortlisted
Lord Valentine's CastleRobert Silverberg
Hugo Award for Best Novel shortlisted
The Ringworld EngineersLarry Niven
Hugo Award for Best Novel shortlisted
Beyond the Blue Event HorizonFrederik Pohl
Hugo Award for Best Novel shortlisted
WizardJohn Varley
Hugo Award for Best Novel shortlisted
GodricFrederick Buechner
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction shortlisted
The Transit of VenusShirley Hazzard
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
The Second ComingWalker Percy
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
The Collected Stories of Eudora WeltyEudora Welty
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
The Year of the FrenchThomas Flanagan
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
The Executioner's SongNorman Mailer
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
Endless LoveScott Spencer
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
War and RemembranceHerman Wouk
National Book Award for Fiction shortlisted
Peter the Great: His Life and WorldRobert K. Massie
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Nathaniel Hawthorne in His TimesJames R. Mellow
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Orwell: The TransformationPeter Štanský
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Willa Cather: A Critical BiographyE. K. Brown
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Bloomsbury: A House of LionsLeon Edel
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Facts of LifeMaureen Howard
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Being Bernard BerensonMeryle Secrest
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
The Dream of the Golden Mountains: Remembering the 1930sMalcolm Cowley
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
From a Limestone LedgeJohn Graves
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Naming NamesVictor S. Navasky
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
American Dreams: Lost and FoundStuds Terkel
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
The White AlbumJoan Didion
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
The Powers That BeDavid Halberstam
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Merchants of Grain: The Power and Profits of the Five Giant Companies at the Center of the World's Food SupplyDan Morgan
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
The Old Patagonian ExpressPaul Theroux
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary FaithJames H. Billington
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
The Age of Reform, 1250–1550: An Intellectual and Religious History of Late Medieval and Reformation EuropeSteven Ozment
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Fin-de-Siècle Vienna: Politics and CultureCarl E. Schorske
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
The Shaping of America: A People's History of the Young RepublicPage Smith
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
The Metaphysics of Indian-Hating and Empire-BuildingRichard Drinnon
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
In the Matter of Color: The Colonial PeriodA. Leon Higginbotham, Jr.
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
Munich: The Price of PeaceTelford Taylor
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted
A People's History of the United StatesHoward Zinn
National Book Award for Nonfiction shortlisted