An “eye-opening” history of the NHS by a London academic and a portrayal of the marriage of Winnie and Nelson Mandela have been named on the shortlist for history’s most coveted prize.
Andrew Seaton, from University College London, is in the running for the £50,000 Wolfson History Prize after judges hailed his book: Our NHS: A history of Britain’s Best Loved Institution as an example of how “an exploration of the past can inform contemporary debate.’
Other titles in contention for the prize, which was set up to reward readable and groundbreaking history include books covering turning points in the past of Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
There is also an account of the creation of the slave trade and a book analysing the history of Germany from the final years of the Nazis to the present decade written by Professor Frank Trentmann from London’s Birkbeck College.
The final shortlisted title Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg, a former professor of African studies at Oxford University, uses previously unpublished conversations between the late South African president and his wife to reveal the “jealousies and disagreements plaguing this influential couple” and its impact on the fight against the brutal apartheid regime.
Announcing the shortlist today, Professor Sir David Cannadine, the chairman of a six strong judging panel which also includes Professor Mary Beard, said the books showed “the extraordinary range and breadth of contemporary historical writing” and offered “profound insights” as well as “rigorous research and compelling storytelling.”
Paul Ramsbottom, the chief executive of the Wolfson Foundation, which sponsors the 52-year-old prize, added that the books chosen “not only sparkle but also remind us that the past is always with us, and ultimately why history writing matters.”
The winner of the £50,000 first prize will be announced on 2 December at a ceremony in London. The five runners up will each receive £5,000.
The two shortlisted books focusing on events in the Asian subcontinent are Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century by the Cambridge academic Joya Chatterji and Courting India: Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Oxford University professor Nandini Das.
Professor Trentmann’s book is Out of Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022, while the final shortlisted title is Traders in Men: Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by Nicholas Radburn, a lecturer at Lancaster University.
