By: HISTORY.com Editors
“Ragtime” wins the National Book Critics Circle Award
On January 8, 1976, Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow is awarded the National Book Critics Circle Award. The book deals with race relations in the early 1900s, mixing fictional characters with real figures from the era. The book was made into a 1981 movie and a musical in 1997. The book established Doctorow as a major contemporary novelist.
Harlem Renaissance
As African Americans flocked to Northern cities in the 1920s, they created a new social and cultural landscape.
Doctorow was born in New York in 1931 and raised in the Bronx. An avid reader, he decided at age 9 to become a writer. He graduated from Kenyon College, then studied at Columbia. He worked as a reservations clerk at La Guardia Airport, then became a book editor, rising to editor-in-chief of the Dial Press by age 33. Meanwhile, he was writing novels on the side. He published his first, Welcome to Hard Times, in 1960. The book, about a frontier town, received little notice, as did his next book, Big as Life (1966). In 1969, he quit his job, moved to California with his wife and three kids, and began writing full time. His 1971 novel, The Book of Daniel, about the 1953 execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage, was more successful, and the next, Ragtime, became a bestseller.
Doctorow continued writing and began teaching creative writing at Sarah Lawrence and NYU. He published several novels in the 1980s and 90s, including a coming-of-age gangster story, Billy Bathgate (1989, film 1991), and The Waterworks (1994), about 19th-century New York. He died in 2015.
Also on This Day in History
Discover more of the major events, famous births, notable deaths and everything else history-making that happened on January 8th
Related
Arts & Entertainment
42 videos
A real-life black bear owned by a Canadian soldier serving in World War I inspired the famous children’s book.
Abbott and Costello turned a simple baseball misunderstanding into one of the most famous comedy routines of all time.
The star of ‘I Love Lucy’ was also a pioneering force behind the camera.
About the author
HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Articles with the “HISTORY.com Editors” byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Christian Zapata, Cristiana Lombardo and Adrienne Donica.
Fact Check
We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.
Citation Information
- Article Title
- “Ragtime” wins the National Book Critics Circle Award
- Author
- HISTORY.com Editors
- Website Name
- History
- Date Accessed
- October 21, 2026
- Publisher
- A&E Television Networks
- Last Updated
- May 27, 2025
- Original Published Date
- November 13, 2009
