Book on Protestants in Middle East wins major history prize

NEW YORK – A book about the first Protestant missions to the Muslim communities of the Middle East has won the prestigious Parkman Prize for history.

The Society of American Historians announced Monday that the Parkman award was given to Christine Leigh Heyrman for “American Apostles: When Evangelicals Entered the World of Islam.” Previous winners of the Parkman include Robert Caro, David McCullough and Eric Foner.

The award is named for the 19th-century historian Francis Parkman.

Also Monday, the esteemed Southern historian Anne Firor Scott won the Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. Prize for “distinguished writing in American history of enduring public significance.” The Allan Nevins Prize for best dissertation was given to Matthew Ryan Kruer for “Our Time of Anarchy”: Bacon’s Rebellion and the Wars of the Susquehannocks, 1675-1682.”