Books on India, Everest and violence vie for Samuel Johnson book prize for nonfiction

LONDON – Books about an Indian slum, an Everest expedition and the history of violence are among the six finalists for Britain’s most lucrative nonfiction book award, the Samuel Johnson Prize.

Katherine Boo’s “Behind The Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai Slum,” Wade Davis’ “Into The Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest” and Steven Pinker’s “The Better Angels Of Our Nature: A History Of Violence and Humanity” are shortlisted for the 20,000 pound ($32,000) prize.

The other finalists announced Friday are Robert Macfarlane’s travelogue “The Old Ways: A Journey On Foot;” Sue Prideaux’s theatrical biography “Strindberg: A Life;” and Paul Preston’s civil war study “The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain.”

The winner will be announced Nov. 12.

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Online: www.thesamueljohnsonprize.co.uk