Tim Tzouliadis wins the Longman / History Today 2009 Award

by Derry Nairn

An eerily misty winter night greeted the attendees at the 2009 Longman / History Today awards ceremony, held last night at the Tower of London.

Tim Tzouliadis was the overall winner for his book The Forsaken: From the Great Depression to the Gulags – Hope and Betrayal in Stalin’s Russia published by Little, Brown. In awarding the prize of £2000, Paul Lay said:

Diligently researched and profoundly moving, Tim Tzouliadis has written a deeply moral and gripping work that anticipates further research – when more files are opened

The journalist Simon Jenkins was the winner of the Trustees Award, traditionally given to a person, or an institution, that has done remarkable work to promote and defend history. Mr Jenkins was praised by Paul Lay as:

a fearless defender of the importance of history, and the built heritage in both Britain and the world

There were also awards for the best history dissertation, won by Catherine L Martin of the University of Greenwich, and for picture research, won by Melanie Haselden for her work on Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory, by Lisa Jardine, published by HarperCollins.

The following is a full list of winners and commended runners-up with links to History Today book reviews where applicable:

• Overall winner: Tim Tzouliadis with The Forsaken: From the Great Depression to the Gulags – Hope and Betrayal in Stalin’s Russia published by Little, Brown. [The winner also receives a cheque for £2,000.]

• In joint second place were: The Pain and the Privilege: The Women in Lloyd George’s Life by Ffion Hague (Harper Press); and Pilgrims: New World Settlers and the Call of Home, by Susan Hardman Moore (Yale).

• Highly commended were: War in England 1642-1649 by Barbara Donagan (OUP); Richard II: Manhood, Youth and Politics by Christopher Fletcher (OUP); The Jewel House: Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution by Deborah E Harkness (Yale); and Blessed Days of Anaesthesia: How Anaesthetics Changed the World by Stephanie J Snow (OUP).
  

• Winner of the Longman-History Today Picture Research Prize was picture researcher Melanie Haselden, for her work on Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory by Lisa Jardine, published by HarperCollins. [The winner also receives a cheque for £500.]

• In joint second place were: Discovery! Unearthing the New Treasures of Archaeology, edited by Professor Brian M. Fagan, published by Thames & Hudson - picture research Alice Foster; and A History of Herbert Smith by Tom Phillips, published by International Financial Law Review - picture research Caroline Wood.

• The dissertation of the year was awarded to Catherine L Martin of the University of Greenwich. Highly commended were Robbie Maxwell (University of Edinburgh) and Katherine McMullen (Oxford University)