Roper among 2025 Cundill History Prize finalists

Australian historian and author Lyndal Roper has been named a finalist for the 2025 Cundill History Prize.

The prize, worth US$75,000 (A$115,137), aims to highlight ‘books that uncover neglected histories and speak to our current context of conflict, protest and the concern with freedom across the globe’.

Chosen from over 400 submissions, and a shortlist of 8 announced in September, the 2025 finalist titles are:

• The Age of Choice: A History of Freedom in Modern Life (Sophia Rosenfeld, Princeton University Press)
• The First and Last King of Haiti: The Rise and Fall of Henry Christophe (Marlene L Daut, Knopf)
• Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War (Lyndal Roper, Basic Books).

The winner will be announced on 30 October. Two runners-up will each receive US$10,000 (A$15,351).

Administered by McGill University in Montreal, Canada, the Cundill Prize is awarded annually to an individual from any country for a book that has had, or is likely to have, ‘a profound literary, social and academic impact in the area of history’.

This year’s judges include Princeton University Dayton-Stockton professor of history and 2022 Cundill History Prize finalist Ada Ferrer (chair), Sunil Amrith, François Furstenberg, Afua Hirsch, and Francesca Trivellato.

Last year’s winner was Kathleen DuVal for Native Nations: A Millennium in North America (Random House US).

More information about the Cundill Prize is available on the prize website.

Category: Awards Local news