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