Nelsons narrative of how the Civil War unfolded in the West analyzes the dispute from the viewpoints of 9 historic figures from different backgrounds. Historians and critics have applauded Nelson for clarifying how the Civil War affected Native individuals living in the West. “Rarely is a Civil War book so readable and so new to our understanding,” the biographer David W. Blight said in a blurb.Credit … Liveright, by means of Associated PressBiographyThis biography, which also won the National Book Award for nonfiction, was a decades-long task; Les Payne died in 2018, leaving his child and primary researcher, Tamara, to complete the manuscript. “Nobody has composed a more poetic account” of Malcolm Xs life, our reviewer stated, praising the books restoration of the key events in his life.Finalist: “Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath,” by Heather Clark (Knopf) In this bio, Clark pulls from products that have actually never ever been accessed previously– including court documents and psychiatric records, unpublished manuscripts and letters– to rescue Plath “from the reductive clichés and distorted readings of her work mostly because of the tragedy of her ending,” a review in The New York Times said.Finalist: “Stranger in the Shoguns City: A Japanese Woman and Her World,” by Amy Stanley (Scribner) Stanley follows the daughter of a Buddhist priest, Tsuneno, who defies social convention to make a life for herself in 19th-century Japan– running away from her village after 3 divorces to reside in Edo, the city that would end up being Tokyo. The book won a National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography.poetryIn her 2nd book, Diaz declares a timeless form– the love poem– and focuses the experiences of queer ladies of color. Our reviewer applauded the “extreme lushness to the language Diaz uses, specifically about love, desire and sex.” Finalist: “A Treatise on Stars,” by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge (New Directions) This collection, which was also a finalist for the National Book Award, jumps from the deeply personal to the cosmic.Finalist: “In the Lateness of the World,” by Carolyn Forché (Penguin Press).