1952 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  Lie Down in Darkness

  William Styron

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Melville Goodwin, USA

  John P. Marquand

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Requiem for a Nun

  William Faulkner

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Caine Mutiny

  Herman Wouk

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Catcher in the Rye

  J. D. Salinger

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Grass Harp

  Truman Capote

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Holy Sinner

  Thomas Mann

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Morning Watch

  James Agee

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Strange Children

  Caroline Gordon

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Witch Diggers

  Jessamyn West

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  A Walker in the City

  Alfred Kazin

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Birth of a World

  Waldo Frank

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Charles Evans Hughes

  Merlo Pusey

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Henry James

  F. W. Dupee

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Jefferson and the Rights of Man

  Dumas Malone

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Life in America, Volumes 1 and 2

  Marshall B. Davidson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Reunion and Reaction

  C. Vann Woodward

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Autobiography of William Carlos Williams

  William Carlos Williams

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Conduct of Life

  Lewis Mumford

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Far Side of Paradise

  Arthur Mizener

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Forgotten Language

  Erich Fromm

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Origins of Totalitarianism

  Hannah Arendt

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Uprooted

  Oscar Handlin

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  White Collar

  C. Wright Mills

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• George Washington by Douglas S. FreemanFinalist
• Thomas Jefferson: A Biography by Nathan SchachnerFinalist

• National Book Award

  Collected Earlier Poems

  William Carlos Williams

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Nones

  W. H. Auden

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Paterson

  William Carlos Williams

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Spirit of the Scene

  William Rose Benèt

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Praise to the End! by Theodore RoethkeFinalist
• Selected Poems by Richard EberhartFinalist
• Selected Poems of Horace Gregory by Horace GregoryFinalist
• The Seven-League Crutches by Randall JarrellFinalist