Shortlist announced for £40k Wolfson History Prize

In the UK, the shortlist for the £40,000 (A$76,200) Wolfson History Prize shortlist has been announced.

The shortlisted titles are:

• The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans (David Abulafia, Allen Lane)
• A History of the Bible: The Book and Its Faiths (John Barton, Allen Lane)
• A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution (Toby Green, Penguin Press)
• Cricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire (Prashant Kidambi, Oxford University Press)
• The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper (Hallie Rubenhold, Black Swan)
• Chaucer: A European Life (Marion Turner, Princeton University Press).

‘This year’s shortlist has a decidedly global theme,’ said judging panel chair and British Academy president David Cannadine. ‘The list is a demonstration of the range and quality of history writing in the UK today, both within and without academia. These are books that engross, challenge and delight—and which draw the readers into worlds as diverse as Indian cricket, Victorian London and the kingdoms of West Africa.’

The annual award is run by independent charity the Wolfson Foundation, which awards grants in the fields of science, health, education and arts & humanities.

The winner will be announced 15 June. Last year’s prize was won by Mary Fulbrook for Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice (Oxford University Press).

Category: Awards International news