McGill announces trio shortlisted for $75,000 U.S. Cundill writing prize

Finalists revealed for world’s most lucrative award for historical writing

Three authors are in contention for the Cundill Prize in History at McGill, the world’s most lucrative award for non-fiction, which awards the author of a non-fiction history book a $75,000 U.S. grand prize.

The shortlisted selections are:

• Maya Jasanoff - Liberty’s Exiles: American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World (Random House of Canada) / UK title is Liberty’s Exiles: The Loss of America and the Remaking of the British Empire (HarperPress)
• Timothy Snyder - Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (Basic Books)
• Sergio Luzzatto - Padre Pio: Miracles and Politics in a Secular Age (Metropolitan Books)

"The Cundill Prize jury has once again selected an outstanding group of books for the short list, which includes for the first time an author from outside North America or the United Kingdom," said Christopher Manfredi, Dean of Arts at McGill University. "The books on this year’s short list confirm the enduring impact of war, revolution and religion on people’s lives. These events dominate our past, shape our present and condition our future. "

McGill History Professor and jury member Catherine Desbarats adds, "These three books are unforgettable, and each hints at legacies that are with us still. With powerful restraint, Bloodlands revisits the East-European sites where Soviet and German state ambitions met, and killed in nauseating numbers; Liberty’s Exiles brilliantly follows the refugees from America’s war of Independence as they relocate to new British Imperial places, scarred, yet bursting with political expectations of their own. Packed with exquisite paradox, Padre Pio reveals the unsettling forces unleashed by saint-making in a secular age".

The Prize, now in its fourth year, accepts published books in English - or translated to English - in the area of history. In addition to the grand prize, two "Recognition of Excellence" awards of $10,000 U.S. each are granted to the runners-up. The grand prize winner will be announced at the Cundill Prize Awards Ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 13 in London, England.

About the shortlisted authors:

• Maya Jasanoff was educated at Harvard, Cambridge and Yale, and is currently a professor of history at Harvard University.
• Timothy Snyder received his doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1997, where he was a British Marshall Scholar. He teaches history at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
• Sergio Luzzato is a professor of modern history at the University of Turin, Italy. He is the author of four works of history, and a regular contributor to the leading Italian dailies La Stampa and Corriere della Sera.