| Year | Author | Title | Subject | Result | Ref. |
|---|
| 1983 | Joyce Johnson | Minor Characters | the women of the Beat Generation | Winner | [4] |
|---|
| Kenneth R.
Manning | Black Apollo of Science: The Life of Ernest Everett Just | Ernest Everett Just (1883–1941), pioneering African-American biologist, academic, and science writer | Finalist | [4] |
| Nicholas Gage | Eleni | the life of his late mother in Greece during World War II and the Greek Civil War |
| E.
Fuller Torrey | The Roots of Treason: Ezra Pound and the Secret of St. Elizabeth’s | Ezra Pound (1885–1972), American poet and critic |
| Fred Kaplan | Thomas Carlyle | Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher |
| 1984 | Joseph Frank | Dostoevsky: The Years of Ordeal, 1850–1859 | Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821–1881), Russian novelist | Winner | [5] |
|---|
| Susan Cheever | Home Before Dark | memoir and biography of her fat
|