September 2nd 2026 in News

The 2026 Cundill History Prize Shortlist

From the world’s first Jewish ghetto to Indigenous enslavement in North America, from Chinese life under American racial law to the reshaping of modern South Asia and the global life of an everyday commodity, the shortlist for the 2026 Cundill History Prize highlights books that uncover forgotten voices and speak to our current context of conflict, nationalism and globalised commodity chains.

Selected from almost 400 international submissions, the eight shortlisted titles illuminate untold histories like the key role of Christianity in the personality cult at the heart of North Korea’s dictatorship, recover overlooked voices like those of the women incarcerated in Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries, and shine new light on familiar subjects, including that of the American constitution. Together, they showcase the range and excellence of contemporary history writing.

Administered by McGill University, the Cundill History Prize is the world’s leading award for history writing. The US$75,000 prize is awarded annually to the book that demonstrates excellence across the prize’s guiding criteria: craft, communication and consequence. The two runners-up each receive US$10,000.

Chaired by Emily Greenwood, James F. Rothenberg Professor of Classics at Harvard University, the 2026 jury includes leading historians and writers Ned Blackhawk, Fergal Keane and Barbara Weinstein.

Emily Greenwood, Chair of the Jury, said: “I feel a great sense of excitement and conviction about this shortlist. Each book on this list invites readers into an absorbing prose world and leaves them with a different reckoning of history. Taken together, they uncover histories that have been forgotten, silenced, or simply not intuited because we lacked the evidence and interpretative frameworks to grasp unobvious connections and to question settled accounts. Crucially, each shortlisted work encompasses different domains of history and evinces subtle, interdisciplinary ways of knowing the past and how we relate to it, blending fresh archival research, deep historical acumen, and strong narrative verve.”

Barbara Weinstein, Silver Professor of History at New York University and past President of the American Historical Association, said: “The eight books on the shortlist are wonderful examples of what I find most appealing about the art and craft of historical writing. Since no one can write the history of everything, we have to focus on something or someone specific
— a person (Kim Il Sung), a place (Venice’s Jewish Ghetto), a process (partitions) or a thing (the vanilla plant). Then our sources typically take us into details whose significance initially may be evident only to the historian doing the research. The ultimate challenge — which all of these authors meet exquisitely — is to make that significance intelligible, engaging, and thought provoking.”

Ned Blackhawk, Howard R. Lamar Professor of History at Yale University, said: “With remarkable insight, innovative methods, and rigorous analysis, this year’s Cundill Prize Shortlist includes exemplary works that transcend scholarly and specialized audiences. Ranging from the global history of the vanilla plant to an exceptional biography of Kim Il Sung, these works also include multi-century histories of the Venice Jewish community, legal history of Chinese American exclusion, and more. These works all highlight the vibrant work of historians working today.”

Fergal Keane, award-winning BBC journalist and author, said: “Those who write history that combines literary flair, original ideas, rigorous scholarship and narrative vitality possess a rare and particular gift. Our shortlisted authors are each blessed with this blend of skills. They succeed in fusing the writer’s craft with an appreciation of what is genuinely consequential, whether they are writing about, among other subjects, the travails of early Chinese immigrants in California, the breakup of Britain’s Indian empire, or the religious influences that helped shape the North Korean cult of personality. Each book achieves what is for me a benchmark of great historical writing – the ability to stop me in my tracks, with moments of revelation and understanding.”

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The 2026 Shortlist

• Louise Brangan
(Bodley Head)
The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence

• Jonathan Cheng
(Knopf)
Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult

• Sam Dalrymple
(William Collins)
Shattered Lands: Five Partitions and the Making of Modern Asia

• Linford D. Fisher
(Liveright/WW Norton)
Stealing America: The Hidden Story of Indigenous Slavery in US History

• Eric T. Jennings
(Yale University Press)
Vanilla: The History of an Extraordinary Bean

• Alexander Lee
(Picador)
The First Ghetto: Venice and the Jews

• Jill Lepore
(Liveright/John Murray Press)
We The People: A History of the US Constitution

• Beth Lew-Williams
(The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press)
John Doe Chinaman: A Forgotten History of Chinese Life Under American Racial Law