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American Book Awards 2014

The 2014 American Book Awards went to Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Boyishly by Tanya Olson, Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country by Andrew Bacevich, Eye of Witness: A Jerome Rothenberg Reader by Jerome Rothenberg, Home/Bass by Sterling D. Plumpp, Hyperboreal by Joan Naviyuk Kane, Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America Since 1940 by Jonathan Scott Holloway, Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam by Nick Turse, Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora by Emily Raboteau, See Now Then by Jamaica Kincaid, The Five Acts of Diego León by Alex Espinoza, Vital Signs by Juan Delgado and Thomas McGovern, Wash by Margaret Wrinkle and Water Chasing Water by Koon Woon.

Winners

  1. Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martinsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Boyishly by Tanya Olsonsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Breach of Trust: How Americans Failed Their Soldiers and Their Country by Andrew Bacevichsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Eye of Witness: A Jerome Rothenberg Reader by Jerome Rothenbergsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Home/Bass by Sterling D. Plumppsource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Hyperboreal by Joan Naviyuk Kanesource (opens in a new tab)
  7. Jim Crow Wisdom: Memory and Identity in Black America Since 1940 by Jonathan Scott Hollowaysource (opens in a new tab)
  8. Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam by Nick Tursesource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Searching for Zion: The Quest for Home in the African Diaspora by Emily Raboteausource (opens in a new tab)
  10. See Now Then by Jamaica Kincaidsource (opens in a new tab)
  11. The Five Acts of Diego León by Alex Espinozasource (opens in a new tab)
  12. Vital Signs by Juan Delgado and Thomas McGovernsource (opens in a new tab)
  13. Wash by Margaret Wrinklesource (opens in a new tab)
  14. Water Chasing Water by Koon Woonsource (opens in a new tab)

About the American Book Awards

Every book the Before Columbus Foundation honored, 2006-2025. The award has no categories, nominees or shortlist, so every row is category Book, level Winner. Year is the announcement year. Sources are the Foundation's own press releases and programs (PDFs and images on beforecolumbusfoundation.com) for 2006, 2008-2014, 2016-2021 and 2024-2025. Fallback to Wikipedia's American Book Awards list for 2007 (the Foundation's poster names only the winners, matching Wikipedia's list), 2015, 2022 and 2023 (no Foundation release online; web.archive.org was unreachable). Lifetime achievement, editor/publisher, oral literature and anti-censorship honors for people, journals or presses are skipped. Walter & Lillian Lowenfels Criticism Awards and the 2021 Anti-Censorship Award are included when the release names a book (2018, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025). Edited works list the work's author where the release names one (Jack Spicer, Bob Kaufman, Jean Racine, Lorenzo Thomas, Jose Antonio Burciaga); otherwise the editors. The 2019 Vollmann honor covers both volumes of Carbon Ideologies and is one row. Titles lightly normalized from the releases (typos such as Each Moth I Sing, Victor Lavalle and The Big Machine fixed).

Organization: Before Columbus Foundation. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

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