1978 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  Elbow Room

  James Alan McPherson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Madder Music

  Peter De Vries

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Public Burning

  Robert Coover

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Union Dues

  John Sayles

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  A Private Signal

  Barbara Howes

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Charon's Cosmology

  Charles Simic

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Images of Kin

  Michael S. Harper

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Stars Which See, Stars Which Do Not See

  Marvin Bell

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  A Species of Eternity

  Joseph Kastner

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Conflict and Crisis: The Presidency of Harry S. Truman, 1945-1948

  Robert J. Donovan

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Gold and Iron: Bismarck, Bleichröder and the Building of the German Empire

  Fritz Stern

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Empire of Reason: How Europe Imagined and America Realized the Enlightenment

  Henry Steele Commager

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  A Dual Autobiography

  Ariel Durant and Will Durant

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Brother to a Dragonfly

  Will D. Campbell

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Delmore Schwartz: The Life of an American Poet

  James Atlas

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Black Jack The Life and Times of John L. Pershing by Frank E. VandiverFinalist