1956 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  A Good Man Is Hard to Find

  Flannery O'Connor

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Andersonville

  MacKinlay Kantor

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Band of Angels

  Robert Penn Warren

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Faithful Are the Wounds

  May Sarton

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Marjorie Morningstar

  Herman Wouk

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Black Prince

  Shirley Ann Grau

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Bride of Innisfallen

  Eudora Welty

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Spider's House

  Paul Bowles

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Gift from the Sea

  Anne Morrow Lindbergh

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Government by Investigation

  Alan Barth

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Inside Africa

  John Gunther

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Notre-Dame of Paris: The Biography of a Cathedral

  Allan Temko

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Part of Our Time

  Murray Kempton

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Age of Reform

  Richard Hofstadter

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Edge of the Sea

  Rachel Carson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Land They Fought For

  Clifford Dowdey

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Scrolls from the Dead Sea

  Edmund Wilson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Solitary Singer

  Gay Wilson Allen

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  They Thought They Were Free

  Milton Mayer

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Year of Decisions

  Harry S. Truman

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• An American in Italy by Herbert KublyWinner

• National Book Award

  As If

  John Ciardi

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Birthdays from the Ocean

  Isabella Gardner

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Exiles and Marriages

  Donald Hall

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Selected Poems

  Randall Jarrell

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Journey to Love by William Carlos WilliamsFinalist
• Poems, North and South by Elizabeth BishopFinalist
• The Diamond Cutters by Adrienne RichFinalist