Wolfson History Prize

The Wolfson History Prize is an annual literary award in the United Kingdom which is intended to promote and encourage excellence in the writing of history for the general public.

History The Wolfson Literary Awards were established in 1972 by the Wolfson Foundation.

Activities Prizes are given annually for two or three exceptional works published during the year, with an occasional "oeuvre" prize (a general award for an individual's distinguished contribution to the writing of history). They are awarded and administered by the Wolfson Foundation, with winning books being chosen by a panel of judges composed of historians.

In order to qualify for consideration, a book must be published in the United Kingdom and the author must be a British subject at the time the award is made and normally resident in the UK. Books should be readable and scholarly and be accessible to the lay reader. Prizes are awarded in the summer following the year of the books' publication; however, until 1987 prizes were awarded at the end of the competition year.

Honourees

1970s +Wolfson History Prize honourees (1970s–1979)YearAuthorTitlePublisher1972Her Majesty's Stationery OfficeReligion and the Decline of MagicWeidenfeld & Nicolson1973Henry IIEyre & SpottiswoodeRoutledge & Keegan Paul1974Chatto & WindusFrance, 1848–1945: Ambition, Love and PoliticsOxford University Press1975Edward VIIIWeidenfeld & NicolsonOxford University Press1976Thames & HudsonHodder & Stoughton1977Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1813CollinsMussolini's Roman EmpireLongman & Co1978Macmillan1979Death in Paris: The Records of the Basse-Geôle de la Seine, October 1795 – September 1801, Vendémiaire Year IV-Fructidor Year IXOxford University PressThe Foundations of Modern Political ThoughtCambridge University PressClementine Churchill: The Biography of a MarriageCassell

1980s +Wolfson History Prize honourees (1980–1989)YearAuthorTitlePublisher1980Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890–1939Oxford University PressOxford University Press1981Cambridge University Press1982Death and the Enlightenment: Changing Attitudes to Death Among Christians and Unbelievers in Eighteenth-Century FranceOxford University Press1983Winston S. Churchill: Finest Hour, 1939–1941HeinemannGeorge VWeidenfeld & Nicolson1984Weidenfeld & NicolsonChivalryYale University Press1985Lloyd George, From Peace To War 1912–1916MethuenDudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade WarriorCambridge University Press1986The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of DeclineYale University PressEuropean Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550–1750Oxford University Press1987Conquest, Coexistence, and Change: Wales, 1063–1415Oxford University PressOxford University Press1988No award1989Unwin HymanDeath in Hamburg: Society and Politics in the Cholera Years, 1830–1910Oxford University Press

1990s +Wolfson History Prize honourees (1990–1999)YearAuthorTitlePublisher1990HuchinsonHow War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938–1939William Heinemann1991Yale University Press1992Giordano Bruno and the Embassy AffairYale University PressHitler and Stalin: Parallel LivesHarperCollins1993Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837Yale University PressJohn Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Saviour, 1920–1937Pan Macmillan1994VikingLiving and Dying in England, 1100–1540: The Monastic ExperienceOxford University Press1995William Morris: A Life for Our TimeFaber and FaberCambridge University Press1996Gladstone 1875–1898Oxford University Press1997Jonathan Cape1998Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth CenturyHarperCollinsJennie Lee: A LifeOxford University Press1999StalingradVikingYale University Press

2000s +Wolfson History Prize honourees (2000–2009)YearAuthorTitlePublisher2000Granta BooksSalisbury: Victorian TitanWeidenfeld & Nicolson2001Hitler, 1936–1945: NemesisAllen LaneThe BalkansWeidenfeld & NicolsonEnlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern WorldAllen Lane2002Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic and Its PeoplesOxford University PressLondon in the 20th Century: A City and Its PeoplesViking2003White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-century IndiaHarperCollinsMarianne in Chains: In Search of the German OccupationMacmillan2004Transformations of Love: The Friendship of John Evelyn and Margaret GodolphinOxford University PressOxford University PressReformation: Europe's House Divided 1490–1700Allen Lane, Penguin Press2005Allen Lane, Penguin PressIn Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World WarAllen Lane, Penguin Press2006Shopping in the RenaissanceYale University PressFraming the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400–800Oxford University Press2007Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947Allen Lane, Penguin PressCity of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century LondonAtlantic BooksAllen Lane, Penguin Press2008After Tamerlane: The Global Story of EmpireAllen LaneGod's Architect: Pugin & the Building of Romantic BritainAllen Lane2009Pompeii: The Life of a Roman TownProfile BooksDance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French ObsessionYale University Press

2010s Awards after 2016 have a winner and shortlist of five. +Wolfson History Prize honourees (2010–2019)YearAuthorTitlePublisher2010Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807–1814 Allen Lane, Penguin PressDivided Houses: The Hundred Years War. Vol. 3Faber and Faber2011Allen Lane, Penguin PressIslanders: The Pacific in the Age of EmpireYale University Press2012Nikolaus Pevsner: The LifeChatto & WindusOxford University Press2013Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's ForestFaber and FaberFascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's ItalyBoydell Press2014Thames & Hudson Red Fortress: The Secret Heart of Russia's HistoryAllen Lane, Penguin Books2015National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963Allen Lane, Penguin BooksRing of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914-1918Allen Lane, Penguin Books2016Augustine: Conversions and ConfessionsBasic BooksKL: A History of the Nazi Concentration CampsLittle, Brown and Company2017Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts: Twelve Journeys into the Medieval WorldAllen LanePenguin BooksHenry IVYale University PressSleep in Early Modern EnglandYale University PressMartin Luther: Renegade and ProphetVintageHenry the Young King, 1155–1183Yale University Press2018Heretics and Believers: A History of the English ReformationYale University PressOut of China: How the Chinese Ended the Era of Western DominationPenguin BooksThe Butchering Art: Joseph Lister's Quest to Transform the Grisly World of Victorian MedicineFarrar, Straus and GirouxYale University PressBlack Tudors: The Untold StoryOneworld PublicationsHeligoland: Britain, Germany and the Struggle for the North SeaOxford University Press2019Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for JusticeOxford University PressBuilding Anglo-Saxon EnglandPrinceton University PressTrading in War: London's Maritime World in the Age of Cook and NelsonYale University PressBirds in the Ancient World: Winged WordsOxford University PressOscar: A LifeHead of ZeusEmpress: Queen Victoria and IndiaYale University Press

2020s +Wolfson History Prize honourees (2020–present)YearAuthorTitleResultRef.2020WinnerShortlistChaucer: A European LifeCricket Country: An Indian Odyssey in the Age of Empire2021Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint LouvertureWinnerAtlantic Wars: From the Fifteenth Century to the Age of RevolutionShortlistBurning the Books: A History of Knowledge Under AttackDouble Lives: A History of Working MotherhoodRavenna: Capital of Empire, Crucible of EuropeSurvivors: Children's Lives After the Holocaust2022Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588–1688WinnerShortlistFallen Idols: Twelve Statues That Made HistoryGod: An AnatomyGoing to Church in Medieval England2023Resistance: The Underground War in Europe 1939-1945WinnerAfrican and Caribbean People in Britain: A HistoryShortlist Vagabonds: Life on the Streets of Nineteenth Century LondonPortable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers2024Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth CenturyWinnerCourting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of EmpireShortlist Traders in Men: Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved InstitutionWinnie & Nelson: Portrait of a MarriageOut of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-20222025Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave TradeWinnerEmbers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking AgeShortlistThe Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IVMulticultural Britain: A People's HistoryThe Gravity of Feathers: Fame, Fortune and the Story of St KildaThe Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective2026The Boundless Deep: Young Tennyson, Science and the Crisis of BeliefShortlistVanished: An Unnatural History of ExtinctionSummer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' WarLiverpool: A Story of BritainThe Library of Ancient Wisdom: Mesopotamia and the Making of HistorySilence of the Gods: The Untold History of Europe's Last Pagan Peoples

List of winners of the Oeuvre Prize 2005 – Christopher Bayly 2002 – Roy Jenkins 2000 – Asa Briggs 1997 – Eric Hobsbawm 1982 – Steven Runciman 1981 – Owen Chadwick 1978 – Howard Colvin

Wolfson History Prize

Bron en licentie