The Wolfson History Prize, the UK’s most prestigious history writing prize, has today announced its shortlist for 2024, highlighting six of the best history books from the past year.
This year’s shortlist covers multiple centuries and countries, with a focus on major turning points in the histories of the Americas, Britain, Bangladesh, Germany, India, Pakistan and South Africa.
Championing books that combine excellence in research with readability, the Wolfson History Prize 2024 shortlist includes:
- Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century byJoya Chatterji (The Bodley Head)
- Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das (Bloomsbury Publishing)
- Traders in Men: Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by Nicholas Radburn (Yale University Press)
- Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution by Andrew Seaton (Yale University Press)
- Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg (William Collins)
- Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022 by Frank Trentmann (Allen Lane)
South Asia’s turbulent history is a major focus of two books on this year’s shortlist. The first – Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji – charts the history of the British Raj through to independence and partition. Adopting a conversational writing style and a structure that pays equal attention to politics, food, cinema and the household, Chatterji’s highly personal, genre-bending book (also longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2024 and shortlisted for the Cundill History Prize 2024) offers a vibrant portrait of modern-day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and focuses on the elements which unite, rather than divide, the three nations.
The second is Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das, winner of the British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding in 2023. Through re-examining Thomas Roe’s fateful expedition to India in 1616, Das challenges our understanding of Britain and its early influence in the subcontinent prior to the heyday of the British Raj, when the ailing Stuart monarchy stood in stark contrast to the wealthy and cultured Mughal Empire of the time. Exploring the art, literature, sights and sounds of Jacobean London and Imperial India, Das’ groundbreaking debut shines new light on this important chapter in Indo-Britain relations.
Apartheid South Africa is brought under the magnifying glass in Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg. In his profoundly moving National Book Critics Circle Award winning biography, Steinberg concentrates on an area of the famous political leader’s life which has received less scholarly attention: his personal relationship with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. With fresh insight and empathy, and drawing on never-before-published conversations between the pair, Steinberg reveals the jealousies and disagreements plaguing this influential couple, whose union played out on the world stage. Both knew theirs was not simply a marriage, but a contest to decide how apartheid should be fought.
Traders in Men: Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by Nicholas Radburn, meanwhile, examines the horrors of one of the darkest eras in human history. Radburn’s meticulously researched book documents how 18th-century merchants in Britain, Africa and the Americas created the slave trade by devising vicious and cruel new ways of doing business which successfully facilitated the shipment, detainment, and commodification of human beings. Transatlantic in its focus, Radburn methodically lays out how traders of the time conspired together to facilitate the sale of millions of people, the long-term effects of which continue to reverberate to this day.
Returning to Europe, Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022 by Frank Trentmann follows the German people from the Second World War to the present, posing the question: how did the Germans emerge from totalitarianism, and where did they go from there? From migrants to soldiers, and families to popularists, Trentmann’s compelling, vivid book attempts to understand the moral transformation of the German people throughout the 20th century, with reflections on complicity, compassion, conscience and struggles about right and wrong at the heart of his studies.
Closer to home, Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution by Andrew Seaton pays tribute to what has long been regarded a key pillar of the UK’s national identity. From rumblings for a nationalised health service in the early 20th century to the financially challenging postwar decades, surviving the rise of neoliberalism, and right through to our precarious post-pandemic era, Seaton’s wide-ranging book traces the resilience of a service while acknowledging the NHS staff from Britain and abroad who have ensured its survival these past 75 years.
A distinguished judging panel comprising historians Mary Beard, Richard Evans, Sudhir Hazareesingh, Carole Hillenbrand, Diarmaid MacCulloch, and chair David Cannadine will now select one overall winner from their shortlist of six.
David Cannadine, Chair of the Wolfson History Prize judges said:
This year’s shortlist showcases the extraordinary range and breadth of contemporary historical writing. From politics, slavery and international relations to healthcare and societal transformation, the six titles – with subjects spanning continents and centuries – offer profound insights and stand out for their rigorous research and compelling storytelling.
David Cannadine, Chair of the Wolfson History Prize
The overall winner of the Wolfson History Prize 2024 will be revealed at a ceremony in central London on Monday 2 December 2024.
Image Source:
- Photo by Thomas Bormans: instant images
