1971 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  Bech: A Book

  John Updike

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Deliverance

  James Dickey

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Losing Battles

  Eudora Welty

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Bay of Noon

  Shirley Hazzard

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Elegiac Feelings American

  Gregory Corso

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Carrier of Ladders

  W. S. Merwin

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Iconographs by May SwensonFinalist

• National Book Award

  Against the Evidence: The Becker-Rosenthal Affair

  Andy Logan

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man

  David Herbert Donald

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Jefferson the President: First Term, 1801-1805

  Dumas Malone

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Last of the Giants

  C.L. Sulzberger

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Blowfish Live in the Sea

  Paula Fox

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Frog and Toad Are Friends

  Arnold Lobel

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Grover

  Bill Cleaver and Vera Cleaver

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Trumpet of the Swan

  E.B. White

  National Book Award Finalist