Historians pretty much shut out at the Writers' Trust Hilary Weston Prize in Nonfiction this year. Most "historical" title is Thomas King's The Inconvenient Indian . Shortlist for the October 21 announcement:
- Thomas King | The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America;
- J.B. MacKinnon | The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be
- Graeme Smith | The Dogs are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan
- Andrew Steinmetz | This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla
- Priscila Uppal | Projection: Encounters with my Runaway Mother
In Britain the shortlist for the principal British nonfiction prize, the Samuel Johnson, previously won by Canadians Margaret MacMillan and Wade Davis, is heavy on history this year. Shortlist for the Nov 6 announcement:
- Empires of the Dead: How One Man's Vision Led to the Creation of WW1's War Graves, David Crane;
- Return of a King, William Dalrymple about Britain's 19th century Afghan wars;
- A Sting in the Tale by Dave Goulson, about, um, bumblebees.
- Under Another Sky, Charlotte Higgins, visiting the surviving sites and landscapes of Roman Britain;
- The Pike, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, a biography of the Italian poet-revolutionary D'Annunzio;
- Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume One: Not for Turning, Charles Moore
And while we are noting them, my column in Canada's History was recently awarded the Manitoba Magazine Association's "Maggie" for best column. No $60,000 cheque attached to this one, but gratefully received nonetheless.
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