Wolfson History Prize

Literary awards for history in the UK

The Wolfson History Prizes are literary awards given annually in the United Kingdom to promote and encourage standards of excellence in the writing of history for the general public. 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 eminent 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. Established in 1972 by the Wolfson Foundation, a UK charitable foundation, they were originally known as the Wolfson Literary Awards.

+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

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 PressOxford 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

+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 England2023Halik KochanskiResistance: The Underground War in Europe 1939 1945WinnerHakim AdiAfrican and Caribbean People in Britain: A HistoryShortlistJames BelichThe World the Plague Made: The Black Death and the Rise of Europe Henrietta HarrisonThe Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators between Qing China and the British EmpireOskar JensenVagabonds: Life on the Streets of Nineteenth Century LondonEmma SmithPortable Magic: A History of Books and their Readers