Cundill History Prize finalists include books on early North America, post-WWII Japan

Books about the civilizations of pre-colonial Indigenous North America, the early Black civil rights movement and post-Second World War Japan are finalists for the US$75,000 Cundill History Prize.

The award administered by McGill University goes to the best work of history writing in English each year.

This year’s finalists include Kathleen DuVal’s “Native Nations: A Millennium in North America,” which jurors say rejects the flattened narrative of Indigenous Peoples as simply victims of settler colonialism to put forth a more fulsome picture of their history and present.

Also vying for the prize is Dylan C. Penningroth for his book “Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights,” which traces how Black Americans used the law to their advantage long before the civil rights movement began.

Rounding out the list of finalists is Gary J. Bass’s “Judgement at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia,” which uses the Tokyo Trial — the Japanese equivalent of the Nuremberg trials — to tell the story of the Second World War’s impact on Asia.

The award will be handed out in Montreal on Oct. 30.

Each of the finalists receive US$10,000, and the winner receives an additional US$75,000.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 3, 2024.

Nicole Thompson, The Canadian Press