Three writers have been named finalists for the 2025 Cundill History Prize.

The $75,000 (U.S.) prize, administered by McGill University, is awarded annually to a book published in English that embodies historical scholarship, originality, literary quality, and broad appeal.

The three finalists were selected by a jury comprised of chair – and 2022 Cundill finalist – Ada Ferrer and historians and writers Sunil Amrith, François Furstenberg, Afua Hirsch, and Francesca Trivellato. The finalists were chosen from an eight-book shortlist announced earlier this month.

“The books we selected speak to the extraordinary range and vibrancy of historical writing today,” Ferrer said in a press release. “From a pathbreaking biography of a little understood Haitian King, to a masterful recreation of the German Peasants’ War of 1524, the largest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution, to an innovative exploration of how the idea and practices of choice have come to dominate modern life, all three books combine remarkable creativity, rigorous research, and engaging prose.”

The finalists are:

• The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. Daut (Knopf/Penguin Random House)
• Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War by Lyndal Roper (John Murray Press/Hachette Book Group)
• The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life by Sophia Rosenfeld (Princeton University Press)

The winner will be named at a ceremony in Montreal on Oct. 30.