2025 WinnerLyndal Roper -
Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War
Biography
Lyndal Roper is Emeritus Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford, and the first woman to hold the Regius Chair in History, and the first Australian. Her previous books include Martin Luther: Renegade and Prophet and Witch Craze: Terror and Fantasy in Baroque Germany. She is a fellow of the British Academy, a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, and a fellow of the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Book Summary
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.
FinalistSophia Rosenfeld -
The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life
Biography
Sophia Rosenfeld is the Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of Democracy and Truth: A Short History and Common Sense: A Political History, among other books. Her writing has also appeared in leading publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post and Nation. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Book Summary
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.
FinalistMarlene L. Daut -
The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe
Biography
Marlene L. Daut is Professor of French and African Diaspora Studies at Yale University. She teaches courses in anglophone, francophone Caribbean, African American, and French Colonial and historical studies. She has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Nation, Essence and Harper’s Bazaar. She lives with her family in New Haven, Connecticut.
Book Summary
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.
