The Chron’s Carl Nolte, a reporter and editor for nearly 50 years and the author of three books, has been chosen to receive the 2007 Oscar Lewis Award from the Book Club of California. The Book Club of California established the Oscar Lewis Awards in 1994 in honor of Lewis, a popular San Francisco writer-historian who served as the book club secretary from 1921 to 1946. Nolte, in a story appearing today, says he’s honored to receive an award in honor of Oscar Lewis. “When I was a kid I devoured his books — particularly ‘Bonanza Inn’ about the Palace Hotel, ‘The Big Four’ about the transcontinental railroad, and the ‘Silver Kings’ about the Comstock,” Nolte said. (Chronicle photo by Eric Luse.)