Tuesday, April 16, 2013

2013 Pulitzer Prize Winner in History: Embers of War

For a distinguished and appropriately documented book on the history of the United States.
Awarded to "Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam," by Fredrik Logevall, a balanced, deeply researched history of how, as French colonial rule faltered, a succession of American leaders moved step by step down a road toward full-blown war.

Also nominated as finalists in this category were: "The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilizations, 1600-1675,” by Bernard Bailyn, a luminous account of how the British colonies took root amid raw brutality, often with terrible consequences for the settlers as well as the native population; and "Lincoln’s Code: The Laws of War in American History," by John Fabian Witt, a striking work examining how orders issued by President Lincoln to govern conduct on battlefields and in prisons during the Civil War have shaped modern laws of armed conflict.

No comments: