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 31^st 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

Stephen@stephenweir.com

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)

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.   

Cundill Prize List - World's Biggest History Award - now has just three books in the running for $75K (us)

Finalists announced for the 2015 Cundill Prize in Historical Literature

Three books to compete for $75,000 US grand prize

                    

three books in the running for the Cundill Prize

Montreal. October 1, 2015 – Today the jury for the world’s most lucrative award for historical non-fiction writing announced this year's finalist list.  There are now three potential winners in the running for the $75,000 US 2015 Cundill Prize.

The three finalists 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)            

This year’s Cundill jury includes Anthony Cary, British Commissioner of the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan; David Frum, author and editor for The Atlantic; Chad Gaffield, University of Ottawa Professor of History and University Research Chair in Digital Scholarship; Maya Jasanoff, Coolidge Professor of History and Harvard College Professor at Harvard University  (Liberty’s Exiles:  American Loyalists in the Revolutionary World); and author Anna Porter, (Buying a Better World: George Soros and Billionaire Philanthropy, The Ghosts of Europe) and winner of the Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing.

 “The Cundill Prize jury is looking for that certain book that is scholarly but that is written in a language that speaks to an audience outside the academy,” said Prof. Hudson Meadwell, who serves as Administrative Chair of the Cundill Prize. “ The Cundill Prize is a wonderful form of recognition.  It is a relatively new award and it is gaining more impact with each passing award. It is now recognized as the most important historical prize in the English language.”

The Cundill Prize 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, two “Recognition of Excellence” awards of $10,000 U.S. each, are granted to the runners-up.  There were six books in the jury’s original shortlist; today’s announcement narrows the field to just three titles.

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.   

The 2014 Cundill Prize was won by Gary J. Bass, a professor of politics at Princeton University for his detailing of a forgotten / ignored mass tragedy in Bangladesh. The book The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide was published in 2013 by Alfred A. Knopf. Professor Bass will be the keynote speaker at the annual Cundill Prize Lecture on October 8, 2015. The afternoon lecture will be held at Birks Heritage Chapel, 2nd floor 3520 University Street in Montreal.

About the Prize: The Cundill Prize in Historical Literature at McGill is the world’s most important international nonfiction historical literature prize. It was established in 2008 by McGill alumnus F. Peter Cundill, who passed away in January 2011. The prize is administered by McGill University’s Dean of Arts, with the help of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), and is awarded annually to an individual who has published a book determined to have had a profound literary, social and academic impact in the area of history.  

MONTREAL:

Cynthia Lee,

McGill University

cynthia.lee@mcgill.ca 

514-398-6754

TORONTO:

Stephen Weir & Associates

Stephen@stephenweir.com

416-801-3101 416-489-5868

www.mcgill.ca

For more information: www.cundillprize.com

Follow us on Twitter: @CundillPrize    

www.mcgill.ca