I think for any prize, the marketing/PR team is key for the follow-through and the reputation of the prize to the wider public, something that takes time but builds up. The books, eventually, live and die on their own, but the Cundill's long-tail is non existent and so offers nothing to the winning titles beyond the initial announcement. You can call something "prize-winning" but if that prize is unknown it has no power.
I appreciated the detail in this post so much. The Cundill...I had no idea. In addition the book prize amounts and the list of the Baillie Gifford winners, felt like I'd listened to hours of podcasts. Thank you, love your Substack.
Ken, you nailed it in a line: ... "by and large, and for many decades now, members of the academic historical profession have been far more interested in writing for each other than for the reading public." That said, it's wonderful to see that, with Hitler's People, Richard J. Evans (no less) is taking a biographical approach to writing history. For the rest, hats off to Ted Barris. Indefatigable!
A curiosity is the success of Grave Error, published and available only through Amazon. It reached #1 of all Cdn books at one point, and remains near or at top of Cdn history list. It has received very few reviews because it is controversial. I’ve read it and recommend it (its primary failing is in repetition but it is an important book). I somehow doubt it will make it to a long list, alas. Maybe you should review it.
I think for any prize, the marketing/PR team is key for the follow-through and the reputation of the prize to the wider public, something that takes time but builds up. The books, eventually, live and die on their own, but the Cundill's long-tail is non existent and so offers nothing to the winning titles beyond the initial announcement. You can call something "prize-winning" but if that prize is unknown it has no power.
I appreciated the detail in this post so much. The Cundill...I had no idea. In addition the book prize amounts and the list of the Baillie Gifford winners, felt like I'd listened to hours of podcasts. Thank you, love your Substack.
Ken, you nailed it in a line: ... "by and large, and for many decades now, members of the academic historical profession have been far more interested in writing for each other than for the reading public." That said, it's wonderful to see that, with Hitler's People, Richard J. Evans (no less) is taking a biographical approach to writing history. For the rest, hats off to Ted Barris. Indefatigable!
A curiosity is the success of Grave Error, published and available only through Amazon. It reached #1 of all Cdn books at one point, and remains near or at top of Cdn history list. It has received very few reviews because it is controversial. I’ve read it and recommend it (its primary failing is in repetition but it is an important book). I somehow doubt it will make it to a long list, alas. Maybe you should review it.