1974 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  Apostles of Light

  Ellen Douglas

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Beasts of the Southern Wild and Other Stories

  Doris Betts

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Burr

  Gore Vidal

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Nickel Mountain

  John Gardner

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Ninety-Two in the Shade

  Thomas McGuane

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  People Will Always Be Kind

  Wilfrid Sheed

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Searches and Seizures

  Stanley Elkin

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  State of Grace

  Joy Williams

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The World of Apples

  John Cheever

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Black Conceit by John LeonardFinalist

• National Book Award

  Armed Love

  Eleanor Lerman

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Collecting the Animals

  Peter Everwine

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  From a Land Where Other People Live

  Audre Lorde

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  From Snow and Rock, from Chaos

  Hayden Carruth

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Hard Freight

  Charles Wright

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Lady in Kicking Horse Reservoir

  Richard Hugo

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Departures by Donald JusticeFinalist
• Points for a Compass Rose by Evan S. Connell, Jr.Finalist
• Revolutionary Petunias and Other Poems by Alice WalkerFinalist

• National Book Award

  A Decade of Music

  B.H. Haggin

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Americans and the California Dream

  Kevin Starr

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Elie Nadelman Drawings

  Lincoln Kirstein

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Explaining Music

  Leonard B. Meyer

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Forewords and Afterwords

  W. H. Auden

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Mandelstam

  Clarence Brown

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Pentimento

  Lillian Hellman

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Unwritten War

  Daniel Aaron

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Walking the Dead Diamond River

  Edward Hoagland

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Golden Codgers by Richard EllmanFinalist

• National Book Award

  A Figure of Speech

  Norma Fox Mazer

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich

  Alice Childress

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver

  E.L. Konigsburg

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Duffy and the Devil

  Harve and Margot Zemach

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Guests in the Promised Land

  Kristin Hunter

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Poor Richard in France

  F.N. Monjo

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Summer of My German Soldier

  Bette Greene

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Treasure is the Rose

  Julia Cunningham

  National Book Award Finalist