1989 National Book Award

• National Book Award

  Billy Bathgate

  E. L. Doctorow

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Geek Love

  Katherine Dunn

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love

  Oscar Hijuelos

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  The Joy Luck Club

  Amy Tan

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Barbarian Sentiments: How the American Century Ends

  William Pfaff

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Danger and Survival: Choices about the Bomb in the First Fifty Years

  McGeorge Bundy

  National Book Award Finalist

• National Book Award

  Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954-63

  Taylor Branch

  National Book Award Finalist

Also recognized

• Mother Country: Britain, the Welfare State and Nuclear Pollution by Marilynne RobinsonFinalist