Literary Lives & Criticism
Individual topics classified under "Literary Lives & Criticism", ranked by how many awards the books carrying each one have won combined. Open a topic to see its most-awarded books.
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Search through 3,587 books
- 1
Literary biography
60 books
26
wins
449
score
- Boswell's Presumptuous Task: The Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson · Adam Sisman2 wins · 27 score
- Henry James · Leon Edel2 wins · 24 score
- James Joyce · Richard Ellmann2 wins · 20 score
- Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life · Ruth Franklin2 wins · 17 score
- Cheever: A Life · Blake Bailey1 win · 16 score
- 2
American political history
27 books
20
wins
267
score
- G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century · Beverly Gage4 wins · 44 score
- Walter Lippmann and the American Century · Ronald Steel3 wins · 36 score
- The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson · Robert A. Caro3 wins · 29 score
- Charles Evans Hughes · Merlo J. Pusey2 wins · 20 score
- We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution · Jill Lepore1 win · 15 score
- 3
American literature
29 books
18
wins
287
score
- 4
Transcendentalism
8 books
7
wins
83
score
- The Flowering of New England: 1815–1865 · Van Wyck Brooks2 wins · 24 score
- Waldo Emerson: A Biography · Gay Wilson Allen1 win · 16 score
- Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father · John Matteson1 win · 12 score
- Henry David Thoreau: A Life · Laura Walls1 win · 11 score
- The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American Romanticism · Megan Marshall1 win · 9 score
- 5
Literary criticism
23 books
6
wins
155
score
- Samuel Johnson · W. Jackson Bate3 wins · 40 score
- Selected Essays · William Troy1 win · 12 score
- United States: Essays 1952–1992 · Gore Vidal1 win · 12 score
- A Flame in Sunlight: The Life and Work of Thomas de Quincey · Edward Sackville West1 win · 8 score
- Portrait of a Novel: Henry James and the Making of an American Masterpiece · Michael Gorra0 wins · 8 score
- 6
Literary history
13 books
6
wins
121
score
- Henry James: A Life · Leon Edel2 wins · 24 score
- Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare · Stephen Greenblatt0 wins · 15 score
- Baldwin: A Love Story · Nicholas Boggs1 win · 14 score
- 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare · James S. Shapiro1 win · 12 score
- And I Worked at the Writer's Trade: Chapters of Literary History 1918–1978 · Malcolm Cowley1 win · 12 score
- 7
18th-century literature
3 books
5
wins
69
score
- 8
African American literature
7 books
5
wins
57
score
- The Life of Langston Hughes, Vol. I: 1902-1941 · Arnold Rampersad2 wins · 24 score
- The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman’s Narrative · Gregg Hecimovich1 win · 12 score
- The Life of Langston Hughes · Arnold Rampersad1 win · 5 score
- The Unfinished Quest of Richard Wright · Michel Fabre1 win · 5 score
- The Life of Langston Hughes: Volume II, 1941–1967: I Dream a World · Arnold Rampersad0 wins · 4 score
- 9
French literature
5 books
4
wins
64
score
- 10
American literary history
9 books
4
wins
62
score
- Writing Dangerously: Mary McCarthy and Her World · Carol Brightman2 wins · 24 score
- Holding On Upside Down: The Life and Work of Marianne Moore · Linda Leavell2 wins · 14 score
- Herman Melville: A Biography, Volume 1, 1819–1851 · Hershel Parker0 wins · 4 score
- The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers Project, 1935–43 · Jerre Mangione0 wins · 4 score
- The Jameses: A Family Narrative · R.W.B. Lewis0 wins · 4 score
- 11
Oscar Wilde's life
3 books
4
wins
45
score
- 12
American poetry
11 books
3
wins
75
score
- Walt Whitman: A Life · Justin Kaplan1 win · 20 score
- Robert Frost: The Years of Triumph, 1915–1938 · Lawrance Thompson1 win · 12 score
- The Life of Emily Dickinson · Richard B. Sewall1 win · 12 score
- Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet · James Atlas0 wins · 4 score
- James Russell Lowell · Martin Duberman0 wins · 4 score
- 13
Modernist literature
5 books
3
wins
44
score
- James Joyce · Richard Ellmann2 wins · 20 score
- Selected Essays · William Troy1 win · 12 score
- Charmed Circle: Gertrude Stein and Company · James R. Mellow0 wins · 4 score
- The Geography of the Imagination: Forty Essays · Guy Davenport0 wins · 4 score
- Woman of Letters: A Life of Virginia Woolf · Phyllis Rose0 wins · 4 score
- 14
Victorian literature
6 books
3
wins
37
score
- George Eliot: The Last Victorian · Kathryn Hughes1 win · 8 score
- Samuel Butler, Author of Erewhon (1835–1902) – A Memoir · Henry Festing Jones1 win · 8 score
- Thomas Carlyle · Fred Kaplan0 wins · 8 score
- The Mystery of Charles Dickens · A. N. Wilson1 win · 5 score
- George Eliot: A Biography · Gordon S. Haight0 wins · 4 score
- 15
Langston Hughes
3 books
3
wins
33
score
- 16
Henry Adams's life and career
4 books
3
wins
32
score
- 17
Poetry
6 books
2
wins
39
score
- John Keats · Walter Jackson Bate1 win · 16 score
- Whitman · Emory Holloway1 win · 12 score
- Rimbaud (about Arthur Rimbaud) · Graham Robb0 wins · 4 score
- Robert Frost: The Early Years · Lawrance Thompson0 wins · 4 score
- Nothing Stays Put: The Life and Poetry of Amy Clampitt · Willard Spiegelman0 wins · 2 score
- 18
Playwriting career
4 books
2
wins
32
score
- 19
Literary friendship
4 books
1
win
24
score
- Dr Johnson and Mr Savage · Richard Holmes1 win · 8 score
- The Dream of the Golden Mountains · Malcolm Cowley0 wins · 8 score
- Baldwin, Styron, and Me · Mélikah Abdelmoumen, translated by Catherine Khordoc0 wins · 4 score
- White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson & Thomas Wentworth Higginson · Brenda Wineapple0 wins · 4 score
- 20
19th-century women writers
3 books
1
win
21
score
- 21
American Transcendentalism
3 books
1
win
20
score
- 22
Literary analysis
3 books
1
win
20
score
- Herman Melville · Newton Arvin1 win · 12 score
- Alone with America: Essays on the Art of Poetry in the United States Since 1950 · Richard Howard0 wins · 4 score
- Eight Contemporary Poets: Charles Tomlinson, Donald Davie, R. S. Thomas, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Thomas Kinsella, Stevie Smith, W. S. Graham · Calvin Bedient0 wins · 4 score
- 23
Walt Whitman
3 books
1
win
19
score
- 24
Literary modernism
3 books
1
win
18
score
- 25
Literary life
9 books
0
wins
35
score
- 26
Writing life
3 books
0
wins
15
score
- 27
Poetry criticism
3 books
0
wins
12
score
- 28
Edgar Allan Poe
3 books
0
wins
10
score
Recent Standout Topics (2020+)
- 1American political history5 wins
- 2Literary biography3 wins
- 3American literature2 wins
Where This Data Comes From
- Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction2012–2026
- Anisfield-Wolf Book Award1936–2026
- Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction1999–2026
- Bancroft Prize1948–2026
- Cundill History Prize2008–2026
- Financial Times and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award2005–2026
- J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize1999–2026
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography1919–2025
- Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction2014–2026
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography1981–2025