|
Diarmaid MacCulloch's A History of Christianity: The First 3000 Years
won the $75,000 Cundill Prize in History, which is administered by
McGill University's Dean of Arts, with the help of the McGill Institute
for the Study of Canada.
"At a time when quarrels between
believers and non believers, new atheists and old faithfuls, dominate so
much of our public discourse, Diarmaid MacCulloch has given us the one
thing that we most need--not polemic but history, high, wide, and lucid,
and, given the enormity of his task, often winningly light of touch,"
said Adam Gopnik on behalf of the jury. "Taking as his subject nothing
less than the whole history of the faith, MacCulloch has written a
social history that illuminates changes in belief; and a history of
belief that helps us see how our society got so much of its
structure.... Though all of the books in the short list seemed to us
wonderful works of narrative history--and well written,
too--MacCulloch's stands out. If any book could truly fulfill the charge
of the Cundill Prize--to make first class history more potent to a wide
reading public, and above all to remind us that history, even three
thousand years worth, matters--this one does."
The other finalists, Giancarlo Casale's The Ottoman Age of Exploration and Marla Miller's Betsy Ross and the Making of America received Recognition of Excellence prizes of $10,000 each.
|
