The authors of three acclaimed books, one on constitutional law, one on the intellectual history of the American South and one on the history of Israel Hill, a free black community built in Virginia, will be awarded the Bancroft Prize for 2005, Columbia University announced today.
The winners are Melvin Patrick Ely, “Israel on the Appomattox: A Southern Experiment in Black Freedom from the 1790s Through the Civil War” (Alfred A. Knopf); Michael J. Klarman, “From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality” (Oxford University Press); and Michael O’Brien, “Conjectures of Order: Intellectual Life and the American South, 1810-1860” (two volumes, The University of North Carolina Press).
One of the most coveted honors in the field of history, the Bancroft Prize is awarded annually by the Trustees of Columbia University to the authors of books of exceptional merit in the fields of American history, biography and diplomacy. The 2005 awards are for books published in 2004.
Via Yahoo — Columbia University Announces 2005 Bancroft Prize Winners
Here’s a list of previous winners (since 1948).