Cundill History Prize reveals three women as finalists for its literary award

TORONTO – Three books about political movements that shaped global history are in the running for this year’s Cundill History Prize.

A representative for the prestigious McGill University award says for the first time all the finalists for the US$75,000 prize are women.

Among them is Harvard University professor and New Yorker staff writer Jill Lepore for “These Truths: A History of the United States,” which judges say offers a fact-based perspective on the contributions that ordinary people and political figures made to the rise of a divided nation.

German history professor Mary Fulbrook, who teaches at University College London, also made the cut for “Reckonings: Legacies of Nazi Persecution and the Quest for Justice,” which examines the lingering aftermath of the Holocaust.

And Julia Lovell, a professor of modern Chinese history and literature at University of London, is nominated for “Maoism: A Global History,” a reflection on the global impact of the communist ideology.

The finalists were announced Wednesday in Toronto and each will take home US$10,000.

The winner will be revealed at a gala in Montreal on Nov. 14.