1979 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  Lying Low

  Diane Johnson

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Family

  David Plante

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Stories of John Cheever

  John Cheever

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The World According to Garp

  John Irving

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964

  William Manchester

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Prodigal Father: The Life of John Butler Yeats

  William M. Murphy

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Remembering Poets

  Donald Hall

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Woman of Letters: A Life of Virginia Woolf

  Phyllis Rose

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Humbug Mountain

  Sid Fleischman

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Queen of Hearts

  Vera Cleaver and Bill Cleaver

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha

  Lloyd Alexander

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Little Swineherd and Other Tales

  Paula Fox

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  New York Jew

  Alfred Kazin

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Stable Peace

  Kenneth E. Boulding

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  This House of Sky: Landscapes of a Western Mind

  Ivan Doig

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Modern Art: 19th & 20th Centuries: Selected Papers by Meyer SchapiroFinalist