Two books on the corrosive effect of the Vietnam War on the American homefront and an account of the 1958 bombing of an Atlanta synagogue were among nonfiction books nominated for a 1996 National Book Award.
"Atticus," a novel that pays homage to "To Kill a Mockingbird," was one of five fiction books nominated. Ron Hansen, the author of "Atticus," named the oilman character in his book after Atticus Finch, the wise father in Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," a novel nominated 35 years ago for the National Book Award.Lee's Atticus defends a black man falsely accused of rape while helping his own children understand their world, while Hansen's Atticus is a loving father who makes a journey of discovery after his artist son commits suicide.
The other fiction nominees are: "Ship Fever and Other Stories," by Andrea Barrett; "The Giant's House," by Elizabeth McCracken; "Martin Dressler: The Tale of an American Dreamer," by Steven Millhauser; and "The River Beyond the World," by Janet Peery.
The nonfiction nominees include "An American Requiem: God, My Father, and the War That Came Between Us," by James Carroll, and "The Living and the Dead: Robert McNamara and Five Lives of a Lost War," by Paul Hendrickson.
Also nominated for nonfiction were "The Temple Bombing," Melissa Fay Greene's account of the bombing of an Atlanta synagogue by white supremacists; "The Life of Nelson A. Rockefeller: Worlds to Conquer 1908-1958," by Cary Reich; and "Fruitful: A Real Mother in the Modern World," by Anne Roiphe.
The awards will be given out Nov. 6.
The nominees in other categories:
- Young People's Literature (a new category)- "What Jamie Saw," by Carolyn Coman; "A Girl Named Disaster," by Nancy Farmer; "The Long Season of Rain," by Helen Kim; "Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida," by Victor Martinez; and "Send Me Down a Miracle," by Han Nolan.
- Poetry - "Scrambled Eggs & Whiskey: Poems 1991-1995," by Hayden Carruth; "The Terrible Stories," by Lucille Clifton; "Sun Under Wood," by Robert Hass; "The Crack in Everything," by Alicia Suskin Ostriker; and "Walking the Black Cat," by Charles Simic.
Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison also will be honored for the body of her work.
The awards carry $10,000 prizes for the winners and $1,000 for the other nominees.