The Ambassador Book Award (1986–2011) was presented annually by the English-Speaking Union.
It recognized important literary and non-fiction works that contributed to the understanding and interpretation of American life and culture.
Winners of the award were considered literary ambassadors who provide, in the best contemporary English, an important window on America to the rest of the world.
A panel of judges selected books out of new works in the fields of fiction, biography, autobiography, current affairs, American studies and poetry.
Winners included books by such notable authors as Tom Wolfe (1988), Joan Didion (1988), Raymond Carver (1989), Gore Vidal (1989), John Cheever (1992), John Updike (1997),[1] Don Delillo (1998), Philip Roth (1999),[2] and Annie Proulx (2000).