Empire of Cotton author Sven Beckert nominated for Cundill Prize!

Meet the Cundill Prize finalists! Sven Beckert is nominated for his book Empire of Cotton. He is the winner of the BANCROFT PRIZE and is a PULITZER PRIZE FINALIST. 

Sven Beckert

Sven Beckert is the Laird Bell Professor of American History at Harvard University. Holding a PhD from Columbia University, he has written widely on the economic, social, and political history of capitalism. He has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including from Harvard Business School, the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library, and the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History. 

He was also a fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The Cundill Prize is the richest award for non-fiction writing in the world.  The Prize, administered by McGill University

accepts books published in English – or translated to English – in the area of history.  This year the Prize received 159 titles from publishers around the globe. In addition to the Grand Prize of $75,000 US, two “Recognition of Excellence” awards of $10,000 U.S. each are granted to the runners-up.  

The Grand Prize winner of the 2015 Cundill Prize will be announced at a gala awards ceremony in Toronto on Monday, November 2, at the Shangri-La Hotel. Famed Canadian author (The Massey Murder; Gold Diggers, Striking It Rich in the Klondike) and speaker Charlotte Gray will host.