Friday 30 October 2015

Media Alert For World's Biggest Non-Fiction Book Prize



Media welcome to cover (No dinner seating provided )
Monday November 2, 2015
Cocktails 6pm Formal Dinner: 7pm / Announcement 9:15 p.m.  
Shangri-La Hotel, Toronto

WHY COVER:
One of this year's three Cundill Prize Finalists will be announced as the winner of the $75,000 US prize on Monday, November 2nd. The announcement will take place at approximately 9.15 p.m. as part of a gala dinner celebrating these important authors and their shortlisted books.

WHERE:
The Shangri-La Hotel, Third Floor Ballroom, 37 King St. East,188 University Avenue

Meet this year's 2015 Cundill Prize and learn about their books:

•   Sven Beckert – Empire of Cotton: A Global History (Alfred A. Knopf)
•   Susan Pedersen – The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire (Oxford University Press)
•   Bettina Stangneth – Eichmann before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer (Bodley Head) 

Harvard Professor Sven Beckert researches and teaches the history of the United States in the nineteenth century, with a particular emphasis on the history of capitalism, including its economic, social, political and transnational dimensions. The Cundill Prize nominated Empire of Cotton: A Global History, is the first global history of the nineteenth century’s most important commodity. The book won the Bancroft Award, The Philip Taft Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Columbia Professor Susan Pedersen specializes in British history, the British Empire, comparative European history, and international history.  Her nominated book is The Guardians:  The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire and details the League of Nations and its impact on the imperial order. Dr. Pedersen is the lone Canadian in the running for the Cundill Prize. She was born in Japan (her parents were Canadian missionaries) and has retained her Canadian citizenship.

German philosopher Bettina Stangneth has written a book that debunks the myth that Adolf Eichmann was a banal stooge for Hitler.  Her book Eichmann before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer has been translated into English and has been hailed as the most important historical book about Eichmann in this century.

Most Prize Jurors & Foundation Members available for Interview/Comments: 

The jurors for the 2015 prize are Toronto award winning author and publisher Anna Porter, Harvard History Professor Maya Jasanoff, University of Ottawa Professor Chad Gadfield, Author, Journalist  David Frum and Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner Anthony Cary

The Cundill Prize in Historical Literature at McGill (Cundill Prize) was established in 2008 to recognize and promote literary and academic achievement in history. The award is offered each year by McGill University to an individual, of any nationality and from any country, who has published a book determined to have had (or likely to have) a profound literary, social and academic impact in the area of history.
Media Contacts:

 TORONTO:
Stephen Weir & Associates
416-801-3101 416-489-5868

For more information on the Cundill Prize:www.cundillprize.com

Follow us on Twitter: @CundillPrize

Monday 26 October 2015

The World's BEST History Authors in Toronto at IFOA and the Cundill Prize. This Weekend and Monday

 
The World’s Best History Authors Together On Stage
Cundill Prize Finalists to Speak At IFOA Saturday Afternoon!


October 25, 2015  The three finalists for the world’s richest non-fiction book prize – the Cundill – will be on stage together this Saturday afternoon as part of the International Festival of Authors in Toronto.  They will join moderator McGill professor of History, Gil Troy, at 3pm on October 31st at Harbourfront’s Studio Theatre.

The three finalists appearing are:

   Sven Beckert – Empire of Cotton: A Global History (Alfred A. Knopf)
   Susan Pedersen – The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire (Oxford University Press)
   Bettina Stangneth – Eichmann before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer (Bodley Head)            

Harvard Professor Sven Beckert researches and teaches the history of the United States in the nineteenth century, with a particular emphasis on the history of capitalism, including its economic, social, political and transnational dimensions. The Cundill Prize nominated Empire of Cotton: A Global History, is the first global history of the nineteenth century’s most important commodity. The book won the Bancroft Award, The Philip Taft Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

Columbia Professor Susan Pedersen specializes in British history, the British Empire, comparative European history, and international history.  Her nominated book is The Guardians:  The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire and details the League of Nations and its impact on the imperial order. Dr. Pedersen is the lone Canadian in the running for the Cundill Prize.  She was born in Japan (her parents were Canadian missionaries) and has retained her Canadian citizenship.

German philosopher Bettina Strangneth has written a book that debunks the myth that Adolf Eichmann was a banal stooge for Hitler.  Her book Eichmann before Jerusalem: The Unexamined Life of a Mass Murderer has been translated into English and has been hailed as the most important historical book about  Eichmann in this century.

Moderator Gil Troy is the author of The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s, published by Thomas Dunne Books. He is a Professor of History at McGill University and a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He writes a regular column in The Daily Beast and The Jerusalem Post.

 The Cundill Prize in Historical Literature at McGill (Cundill Prize) was established in 2008 to recognize and promote literary and academic achievement in history. The award is offered each year by McGill University to an individual, of any nationality and from any country, who has published a book determined to have had (or likely to have) a profound literary, social and academic impact in the area of history.

Saturday, October 31, 2015 - 3:00 PM
Author appearance, Round table, Special Event: IFOA
Studio Theatre
235 Queens Quay West
Toronto M5J 2G8
Cost: $18/$15 for supporters/FREE for students & youth

Tickets can be purchased online: https://my.harbourfrontcentre.com/single/SelectSeating.aspx?p=26117, over the phone (416 973 4000) or in person at 235 Queens Quay West.

























Bettina Stangneth (top), Sven Beckert (left) and Susan Pedersen (right)



Media Contacts:

 TORONTO:
Stephen Weir & Associates
416-801-3101 416-489-5868

For more information on the Cundill Prize: www.cundillprize.com
Follow us on Twitter: @CundillPrize








    

Bettina Stangneth (top), Sven Beckert (left) and Susan Pedersen (right)

Sunday 25 October 2015

The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s Gil Troy in Toronto next weekend.

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MEDIA ALERT - INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITY - THE AGE OF CLINTON - GIL TROY
 
October 26, 2015  McGill professor of History Gil Troy will be in Toronto and available for interviews on Saturday October 31 and Sunday November 1 as he will be moderating an afternoon event at the International Festival of Authors (IFOA).  Prof. Troy has just published a book, The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s.

Prof. Troy will be moderating a panel of the Cundill Prize in Historical Literature finalists at the IFOA on Saturday, October 31, 3pm. http://ifoa.org/events/cundill-prize-in-history The three 2015 finalists for the largest book prize in historical non-fiction will be in conversation about the experience of writing historical non-fiction.

Interview with Gil Troy in the McGill Reporterhttp://publications.mcgill.ca/reporter/2015/10/40048/
The Cundill Prize in Historical Literature at McGill (Cundill Prize) was established in 2008 to recognize and promote literary and academic achievement in history. The award is offered each year by McGill University to an individual, of any nationality and from any country, who has published a book determined to have had (or likely to have) a profound literary, social and academic impact in the area of history.

Gil Troy is the author of The Age of Clinton: America in the 1990s, published by Thomas Dunne Books. He is a Professor of History at McGill University and a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution in Washington. A leading presidential historian, he is the award-winning author of 10 other books, including Moynihan’s Moment: America’s Fight against Zionism as Racism. He writes a regular column in The Daily Beast and The Jerusalem Post and has been widely quoted in the popular press, includingThe New York Times and The Washington Post.

To arrange interviews, contact Prof. Troy directly: giltroy@gmail.com or contact Stephen Weir in toronto at 416-801-30101 stephen@stephenweir.com.
 

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STEPHEN WEIR