Books on science, state secrets and religion shortlisted for Cundill History Prize

NEW YORK – Eight urgent books about the past have been shortlisted for the US$75,000 Cundill History Prize.

The short list includes books about countries’ forgotten — or buried — histories, such as “The Madman in the White House” by Patrick Weil, which resurrects a psychobiography Sigmund Freud helped create about Woodrow Wilson, and “The Declassification Engine” by Matthew Connelly, about America’s secrecy industrial complex.

In a similar vein, “Red Memory” by Tania Branigan explores the Cultural Revolution and cultural amnesia in China.

Several science books also made the short list, including Alison Bashford’s “The Huxleys,” a history of evolution; “The Perfection of Nature” by Mackenzie Cooley, which explores how theories of race developed through man’s attempts to control nature; and “Charged” by James Morton Turner, which examines “the battery problem” by looking to the past for lessons about a clean energy future.

Histories of religion round out the short list, including “Queens of a Fallen World” by Kate Cooper, which recounts the stories of the women who shaped Christian philosopher St. Augustine, and “Dust on the Throne” by Douglas Ober, about the role that anti-caste activists played in the development of Buddhism.

Three finalists will be announced Oct. 16 and the award, which is administered by McGill University, will be handed out Nov. 8 at a ceremony in Montreal.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2023.