The Cundill History Prize
On October 30 the author of an historical work that exhibits "scholarship, originality, literary quality and broad appeal," will receive $75,000 (US) as a result of winning an award established by F. Peter Cundill. His intention is to encourage "informed public debate through the wider dissemination of history writing to new audiences around the world."
The three finalists are listed along with sample reviews. The Cundill Prize Long List for 2024 is provided at the bottom.
Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights by Dylan C. Penningroth (Liveright Publishing)
"Dylan Penningroth explodes conventional wisdom about African Americans and the law. He approaches his subject with the eye of a law professor, the tools of a social historian, and the sensibility of a skilled storyteller. The result is a remarkable book that stands civil rights history on its head and shows "how ordinary Black people used law in their everyday lives." The Register - Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 122, No.1, 2024.
Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia by Gary J. Bass (Picador/Pan Macmillan)
"A detailed and sharply observed account of the 1946-1948 Tokyo trials – proceedings that were implicitly racist and hypocritical, and with a prosecution team that was led by a ‘blundering alcoholic’....Bass has written a massively long and detailed book, always lively and judgmental. He brings out not only the legal arguments, but the colour of the great tribunal itself: sharp sketches of the protagonists, of the stress on the multinational judges penned up month after month in the Imperial hotel, of Tojo Hideki among the seven shabby old men shuffling to the gallows in Sugamo prison." (Review by Neal Ascherson, The Guardian, Jan. 21, 2024.
Native Nations: A Millennium in North America by Kathleen DuVal (Penguin Random House)
" prodigiously researched and enlightening study from University of North Carolina historian DuVal (Independence Lost) recenters the past 1,000 years of Native North American history around the political power exercised by Indigenous governments...Tracing numerous Native governments across the ensuing centuries--including the 19th century's Cherokee republic and alliance of Great Plains nations--DuVal provides a profoundly empowered history of Native America. This keen reframing will appeal to fans of David Graeber and David Wengrow's The Dawn of Everything." Publisher's Weekly, Jan. 22, 2024.
Sources:
See McGill's website for The Cundill History Prize.
Back in 2017 on the 10th anniversary of The Cundill I posted this in MM -"Christmas Shopping for Historians." See also, "The Cundill History Prize" in 2019 and "F. Peter Cundill" in Oct. 2021.
The Bonus:
For prize winning historical works covering geographical areas from Asia to North and South America, see: American Historical Association Announces 2024 Prize Winners.
No comments:
Post a Comment