The National Book Critics Circle “honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature.” 

Here are the five nominees in the general non-fiction category:

Nonfiction
Whitey Bulger: America’s most wanted gangster and the manhunt that brought him to justice by Kevin Cullen and Shelley Murphy (M)

Five Days at Memorial: life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital
by Sheri Fink (M)

Thank You For Your Service
by David Finkel (M)

The Unwinding: an inner history of the new America
by George Packer  (M)

Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood and the prison of belief
by Lawrence Wright (M)