The Cundill History Prize has announced its shortlist. The prize awards the best in English-language history writing with an emphasis on historical scholarship, originality, literary quality, and broad appeal. The three finalists will be announced in Toronto on Oct. 31 with the winner to be named at a gala on Nov. 15.
The shortlisted books are:
• Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine, Anne Applebaum (Penguin Random House Canada)
• Grant, Ron Chernow (PRHC)
• Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Caroline Fraser (Metropolitan Books)
• Behemoth: A History of the Factory and the Making of the Modern World, Joshua Freeman (PRHC)
• A Deadly Legacy: German Jews and the Great War, Tim Grady (Yale University Press)
• The Dawn Watch: Joseph Conrad in a Global World, Maya Jasanoff (PRHC)
• The Pope Who Would Be King: The Exile of Pius XI and The Emergence of Modern Europe, David I. Kertzer (PRHC)
• A Cold Welcome: The Little Ice Age and Europe’s Encounter with North America, Sam White (Harvard University Press)
The $75,000 (U.S.) prize is administered by McGill University and was founded by Montreal-born investor and history enthusiast F. Peter Cundill. This year’s jury includes professors Mark Gilbert, Carol Berkin, Caroline Elkins, and Peter Frankopan alongside Canadian author and journalist Peter Frankopan.