1972 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  A Garden of Sand

  Earl Thompson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Love in the Ruins

  Walker Percy

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Rabbit Redux

  John Updike

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Book of Daniel

  E. L. Doctorow

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Dick Gibson Show

  Stanley Elkin

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Pagan Rabbi and Other Stories

  Cynthia Ozick

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Wonderland

  Joyce Carol Oates

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Farragan's Retreat by Tom McHaleFinalist
• Lion Country by Carl Frederick BuechnerFinalist

• National Book Award

  A Man Holding an Acoustic Panel

  David Shapiro

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Briefings: Poems Small and Easy

  A. R. Ammons

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Collected Poems

  James Wright

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Death & Friends

  Jon Anderson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Spring Shade: Poems, 1931 - 1970

  Robert Fitzgerald

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Book of Nightmares

  Galway Kinnell

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Night Mirror

  John Hollander

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Swimmers and Other Selected Poems

  Allen Tate

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Words in the Mourning Time

  Robert Hayden

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Amos & Boris

  William Steig

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Father Fox's Pennyrhymes

  Clyde Watson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Hildilid's Night

  Cheli Duran Ryan and Arnold Lobel

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  His Own Where

  June Jordan

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Art and Industry of Sandcastles

  Jan Adkins

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Bear's House

  Marilyn Sachs

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Planet of Junior Brown

  Virginia Hamilton

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Tombs of Atuan

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Wild In The World

  John Donovan

  National Book Award Finalist