Wolfson History Prize

The Wolfson History Prize is an award for historiography in Great Britain , awarded by the British Wolfson Foundation since 1972 , aimed at a general readership. Usually two to three publications of the current year are honored, occasionally only one. These publications must be by a UK author and the book must be published in the UK. In 2016, the award was endowed with £ 30,000 each for both winners; in 2017 and 2018, the only winners each received £ 40,000.

Occasionally, a lifetime achievement award is also presented.

Award winners

1972 Michael Howard , The Grand Strategy: August 1942 - September 1943 (Her Majesty's Stationery Office) Keith Thomas , Religion and the Decline of Magic (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
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1973 Frances A. Yates , The Rosicrucian Enlightenment (Routledge & Keegan Paul) WL Warren , Henry II (Eyre & Spottiswoode)
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1974 Moses Finley , The Ancient Economy (Chatto & Windus) Theodore Zeldin , France, 1848–1945: Ambition, Love and Politics (Oxford University Press)
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1975 Frances Donaldson , Edward VIII (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) Olwen Hufton , The Poor of Eighteenth-century France 1750–1789 (Oxford University Press)
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1976 Nikolaus Pevsner , A History of Building Types (Thames & Hudson) Norman Stone , The Eastern Front: 1914–17 (Hodder & Stoughton)
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1977 Denis Mack Smith , Mussolini's Roman Empire (Longman & Co) Simon Schama , Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands 1780–1813 (Collins)
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1978 Alistair Horne , A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954–1962 (Macmillan)

1979 Richard Cobb , Death in Paris: The Records of the Basse-Geôle de la Seine, October 1795 - September 1801, Vendémiaire Year IV-Fructidor Year IX (Oxford University Press) Mary Soames , Clementine Churchill: The Biography of a Marriage (Cassell ) Quentin Skinner , The Foundations of Modern Political Thought (Cambridge University Press)
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1980 FSL Lyons , Culture and Anarchy in Ireland, 1890–1939 (Oxford University Press) Robert Evans , The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550–1700: An Interpretation (Oxford University Press)
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1981 John Wyon Burrow , A Liberal Descent: Victorian Historians and the English Past (Cambridge University Press)

1982 John McManners , Death and the Enlightenment: Changing Attitudes to Death Among Christians and Unbelievers in Eighteenth-Century France (Oxford University Press)

1983 Martin Gilbert , Winston S. Churchill: Finest Hour, 1939–1941 (Heinemann) Kenneth Vivian Rose , George V (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
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1984 Antonia Fraser , The Weaker Vessel (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) Maurice Keen , Chivalry (Yale University Press)
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1985 John Grigg , Lloyd George, From Peace To War 1912–1916 (Methuen) Richard Davenport-Hines , Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior (Cambridge University Press)
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1986 JH Elliott , The Count-Duke Of Olivares: The Statesman In An Age Of Decline (Yale University Press) Jonathan Israel , European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism, 1550–1750 (Oxford University Press)
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1987 RR Davies , Conquest, Coexistence, and Change: Wales, 1063–1415 (Oxford University Press) John Pemble , The Mediterranean Passion: Victorians And Edwardians in the South (Oxford University Press)
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1989 Paul Kennedy , The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 To 2000 (Unwin Hyman) Richard Evans , Death in Hamburg: Society and Politics in the Cholera Years, 1830–1910 (Oxford University Press)
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1990 Donald Cameron Watt , How War Came: The Immediate Origins of the Second World War, 1938–1939 (William Heinemann) Richard A. Fletcher , The Quest for El Cid (Huchinson)
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1991 Colin Platt , The Architecture of Medieval Britain: A Social History (Yale University Press)

1992 Alan Bullock , Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives (Harper Collins) John Bossy , Giordano Bruno and the Embassy Affair (Yale University Press)
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1993 Robert Skidelsky , John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Savior, 1920–1937 (Pan Macmillan) Linda Colley , Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837 (Yale University Press)
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1994 Barbara Harvey , Living and Dying in England, 1100–1540: The Monastic Experience (Oxford University Press) Robert Bartlett , The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change, 950–1350 (Viking)
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1995 Fiona MacCarthy , William Morris: A Life for Our Time (Faber & Faber) John CG Röhl , The Kaiser and His Court: Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany (Cambridge University Press)
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1996 HCG Matthew , Gladstone 1875–1898 (Oxford University Press)

1997 Orlando Figes , A People's Tragedy: A History of the Russian Revolution (Jonathan Cape)

1998 John Brewer , Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century (HarperCollins) Patricia Hollis , Jennie Lee: A Life (Oxford University Press)
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1999 Antony Beevor , Stalingrad (Viking) Amanda Vickery , The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England (Yale University Press)
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2000 Andrew Roberts , Salisbury: Victorian Titan (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) Joanna Bourke , An Intimate History of Killing (Granta Books)
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2001 Ian Kershaw , Hitler, 1936–1945: Nemesis (Allen Lane) Mark Mazower , The Balkans (Weidenfeld & Nicholson) Roy Porter , Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World (Allen Lane)
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2002 Barry Cunliffe , Facing the Ocean: The Atlantic and Its Peoples (Oxford University Press) Jerry White , London in the 20th Century: A City and Its Peoples (Viking)
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2003 Robert Gildea , Marianne in Chains: In Search of the German Occupation (Macmillan) William Dalrymple , White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in Eighteenth-century India (HarperCollins)
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2004 Diarmaid MacCulloch , Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490-1700 (Allen Lane: Penguin Press) Frances Harris , Transformations of Love: The Friendship of John Evelyn and Margaret Godolphin (Oxford University Press) Julian T. Jackson , The Fall of France: The Nazi Invasion of 1940 (Oxford University Press)
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2005 David Reynolds , In Command of History: Churchill Fighting and Writing the Second World War (Allen Lane: Penguin Press) Richard Overy , The Dictators: Hitler's Germany; Stalin's Russia (Allen Lane: Penguin Press)
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2006 Evelyn Welch , Shopping in the Renaissance (Yale University Press) Chris Wickham , Framing the Early Middle Ages: Europe and the Mediterranean, 400-800 (Oxford University Press)
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2007 Adam Tooze , The Wages of Destruction | The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy (Allen Lane: Penguin Press) Christopher Clark , Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947 (Allen Lane: Penguin Press) Vic Gatrell , City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London (Atlantic Books)
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2008 John Gareth Darwin , After Tamerlane: The Global Story of Empire (Allen Lane) Rosemary Hill , God's Architect: Pugin & the Building of Romantic Britain (Allen Lane)
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2009 Mary Beard , Pompeii: The Life of a Roman Town (Profile Books) Margaret M. McGowan , Dance in the Renaissance: European Fashion, French Obsession (Yale University Press)
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2010 Dominic Lieven , Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807–1814 (Allen Lane: Penguin Press) Jonathan Sumption , Divided Houses: The Hundred Years War (Vol. 3) (Faber & Faber)
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2011 Ruth Harris , The Man on Devil's Island: The Affair that Divided France (Allen Lane: Penguin Press) Nicholas Thomas , Islanders: The Pacific in the Age of Empire (Yale University Press)
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2012 Susie Harries , Nikolaus Pevsner: The Life (Chatto & Windus) Alexandra Walsham , The Reformation of the Landscape (Oxford University Press)
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2013 Christopher Duggan , Fascist Voices: An Intimate History of Mussolini's Italy (Boydell Press) Susan Brigden , Thomas Wyatt: The Heart's Forest (Faber & Faber)
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2014 Cyprian Broodbank , The Making of the Middle Sea Catherine Merridale , Red Fortress: The Secret Heart of Russia's History
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2015 Richard Vinen , National Service: Conscription in Britain, 1945–1963 Alexander Watson , Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914–1918
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2016 Robin Lane Fox , Augustine: Conversions and Confessions Nikolaus Wachsmann , KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
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2017 Christopher de Hamel , Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts

2018 Peter Marshall , Heretics and Believers: A History of the English Reformation

2019 Mary Fulbrook , Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice

2020 David Abulafia , The Boundless Sea: A Human History of the Oceans

Lifetime Achievement Awards

Web links

official website