The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) has honored “Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World” by Leo Damrosch ‘63 — published by Yale University Press — as winner of the NBCC Award in the category of Biography for the publishing year 2013. The winners were announced at an awards ceremony March 13 at the New School in New York.
“Jonathan Swift” was selected from a shortlist of five finalists that included Scott Anderson’s “Lawrence of Arabia” (Doubleday) and John Eliot Gardiner’s “Bach” (Knopf).
The NBCC called “Jonathan Swift” “a spellbinding life of a complicated, contradictory subject” and praised Damrosch as a master biographer: “He is a time traveler who gives us a world centuries old” and a protagonist, in Swift, whose intelligence “still burns hot.”
The NBCC was founded in 1974 at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. The award winners in six categories were chosen by the nearly 600 critics and editors who make up the NBCC.
Leo Damrosch is Ernest Bernbaum Research Professor of Literature at Harvard University. He is the author of nine books, including “Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Restless Genius,” a National Book Award finalist. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts.
“Jonathan Swift”was previously tapped as a New York Times Notable Book of 2013 and a Best Book of 2013 by The Daily Beast.
For more information, see the NBCC announcement or visit the Yale Press website.