September 30th 2025 in News

Freedom, Independence and Choice: Finalists for the 2025 Cundill History Prize Announced

The Cundill History Prize, the world’s leading prize for a work of history written or translated into English, has named its 2025 finalists.

Marlene L. Daut, Lyndal Roper, and Sophia Rosenfeld have been selected by an international jury of leading historians and writers, chaired by Ada Ferrer (Princeton University). The finalists are in contention for the grand prize of US$75,000, one of the largest sums awarded to a single author anywhere in the world. The other two finalists will each receive an award of US$10,000. The prize is administered by McGill University, and the winner will be announced at the Cundill Festival in Montreal on Thursday, October 30.

From revolutions that changed the world, to the fight for justice and equality, to the rise of personal choice as a cornerstone of modern life, these three books offer profound insights into how human beings have defined themselves through freedom and independence.

• The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe by Marlene L. Daut (Knopf)

A dramatic biography of Henry Christophe, the most pivotal figure of the Haitian Revolution, who rose from enslavement to become Haiti’s first and only king. Daut’s work uncovers a story of Black freedom and self-determination that reverberated across the Atlantic world.

• Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War by Lyndal Roper (John Murray Press/Basic Books)

Roper examines the sixteenth-century uprising that shook Europe to its core. Told through the voices of the peasants themselves, this deeply researched and vivid account captures the revolutionary spirit of one of the most significant popular movements before the French Revolution.

• The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life by Sophia Rosenfeld (Princeton University Press)

Rosenfeld traces the history of personal choice over four centuries, exploring how it came to define modern ideas of freedom. Drawing on a wealth of sources ranging from novels and restaurant menus to the latest scientific findings, The Age of Choice urges us to rethink the meaning of choice and its promise and limitations in modern life.

2025 Chair of the Jury, Ada Ferrer, said: “It was not easy to get from a list of eight truly excellent books to a slate of only three finalists. The books we selected speak to the extraordinary range and vibrancy of historical writing today. From a pathbreaking biography of a little understood Haitian King, to a masterful recreation of the German Peasants’ War of 1524, the largest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution, to an innovative exploration of how the idea and practices of choice have come to dominate modern life, all three books combine remarkable creativity, rigorous research, and engaging prose. These are wonderful books that deserve our attention and that will, I think, stand the test of time.”

In a hotly contested field, Daut, Roper and Rosenfeld’s books were selected from a shortlist of eight distinguished titles, including To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause by 2025 Pulitzer Prize winner Benjamin Nathans, and New York Times bestseller and critically acclaimed America, América by Greg Grandin.

From over 400 submissions, the three essential works of history were identified by a panel of world-class historians including Sunil Amrith (Yale University), François Furstenberg (Johns Hopkins University) and Francesca Trivellato (Princeton University), as well as Afua Hirsch, leading journalist, author, broadcaster and co-host of hit history podcast Legacy. The winner will be revealed on Thursday, October 30 as part of the Cundill History Prize Festival in Montreal.

The Cundill History Prize Festival will also feature the annual lecture, this year delivered by 2024 Cundill History Prize winner Kathleen Du Val on her book Native Nations: A Millennium in North America (Random House), and the Cundill Forum, in which the three 2025 finalists will explore the common themes in their books and consider the role of history writing today.

The 2025 winner will join an exceptional alumni list of world-class historians: Kathleen DuVal (2024), Tania Branigan (2023), Tiya Miles (2022), Marjoleine Kars (2021), Camilla Townsend (2020), Julia Lovell (2019), Maya Jasanoff (2018), Daniel Beer (2017), Thomas W. Laqueur (2016), Susan Pedersen (2015), Gary Bass (2014), Anne Applebaum (2013), Stephen Platt (2012), Sergio Luzzatto (2011), Diarmaid MacCulloch (2010), Lisa Jardine (2009) and Stuart B. Schwartz (2008).