The Hessell-Tiltman History Prize is awarded to the best work of non-fiction of historical content covering a period up to and including

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and published in the year of the award. The books are to be of high literary merit, but not primarily academic. The prize is organized by the

English PEN Founded in 1921, English PEN is one of the world's first non-governmental organisations and among the first international bodies advocating for human rights. English PEN was the founding centre of PEN International, a worldwide writers' associati ...

. Marjorie Hessell-Tiltman was a member of PEN during the 1960s and 1970s; on her death in 1999 she bequeathed £100,000 to the PEN Literary Foundation to found a prize in her name. Each year's winner receives £2,000. The award is one of many PEN awards sponsored by

PEN International PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

affiliates in over 145 PEN centres around the world.

Winners and shortlist

A blue ribbon () denotes the winner.

2000s

2002

Margaret MacMillan Margaret Olwen MacMillan, (born 1943) is a Canadian historian and professor at the University of Oxford. She is former provost of Trinity College, Toronto, and professor of history at the University of Toronto and previously at Ryerson Univer ...

, '' Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and Its Attempt to End War''

2003

William Dalrymple William Dalrymple may refer to: * William Dalrymple (1678–1744), Scottish Member of Parliament * William Dalrymple (moderator) (1723–1814), Scottish minister and religious writer * William Dalrymple (British Army officer) (1736–1807), Scott ...

, '' White Mughals: Love and Betrayal in 18th Century India'' *

Geoffrey Moorhouse Geoffrey Moorhouse, FRGS, FRSL, D.Litt. (29 November 1931 – 26 November 2009) was an English journalist and author. He was born Geoffrey Heald in Bolton and took his stepfather's surname. He attended Bury Grammar School. He began writing as a ...

, ''The Pilgrimage of Grace: The Rebellion that Shook Henry VIII's Throne'' *

Munro Price Munro Price is a British historian noted for his award-winning work on French history. Early life Price was born (February 1963) in London to playwright and author Stanley Price and his wife Judy ( Fenton) and raised in Highgate. Education ...

, ''The Fall of the French Monarchy: Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and the Baron de Breteuil'' *

Jenny Uglow Jennifer Sheila Uglow (, (accessed 5 February 2008).
(accessed 19 August 2022). born 1947) is an English biographer, hi ...

, ''The Lunar Men: The Friends who Made the Future 1730–1810'' * A.N. Wilson, ''The Victorians''

2004

James Buchan James Buchan (born 11 June 1954) is a Scottish novelist and historian. Biography Buchan is a son of the late William Buchan, 3rd Baron Tweedsmuir, and grandson of John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, the Scottish novelist and diplomat. He has se ...

, ''Capital of the Mind: How Edinburgh Changed the World'' *

Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professor at ...

, '' Rising '44. The Battle for Warsaw'' *

Richard A. Fletcher Richard Alexander Fletcher (28 March 1944, in York, England – 28 February 2005, in Nunnington, England) was a historian who specialised in the medieval period. Early years Richard Fletcher was the eldest child and only son of Alexander Kendal ...

, ''The Cross and the Crescent: The Dramatic Story of the Earliest Encounters Between Christians and Muslims'' *

Tom Holland Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. His accolades include a British Academy Film Award, three Saturn Awards, a Guinness World Record and an appearance on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list. Some publications h ...

, '' Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic'' *

Diarmaid MacCulloch Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch (; born 31 October 1951) is an English academic and historian, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was former ...

, '' Reformation: Europe’s House Divided 1490-1700''

2005

Joachim Fest Joachim Clemens Fest (8 December 1926 – 11 September 2006) was a German historian, journalist, critic and editor who was best known for his writings and public commentary on Nazi Germany, including a biography of Adolf Hitler and books about ...

, '' Inside Hitler's Bunker: The Last Days of the Third Reich'' *

Paul Fussell Paul Fussell Jr. (22 March 1924 – 23 May 2012) was an American cultural and literary historian, author and university professor. His writings cover a variety of topics, from scholarly works on eighteenth-century English literature to commentar ...

, ''The Boys' Crusade: The American Infantry in Northwestern Europe, 1944–1945'' (joint winners) *

Mark Mazower Mark Mazower (; born 20 February 1958) is a British historian. His expertise are Greece, the Balkans and, more generally, 20th-century Europe. He is Ira D. Wallach Professor of History at Columbia University in New York City Early life Mazowe ...

, ''Salonica, City of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims and Jews, 1430–1950'' *

Richard Overy Richard James Overy (born 23 December 1947) is a British historian who has published on the history of World War II and Nazi Germany. In 2007, as ''The Times'' editor of ''Complete History of the World'', he chose the 50 key dates of world his ...

, ''The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Russia'' (joint winners) * Jonathan Phillips, ''The Fourth Crusade and the Sack of Constantinople''

2006

Charles Townshend Charles Townshend (28 August 1725 – 4 September 1767) was a British politician who held various titles in the Parliament of Great Britain. His establishment of the controversial Townshend Acts is considered one of the key causes of the Ame ...

, ''Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion'' *

Simon Schama Sir Simon Michael Schama (; born 13 February 1945) is an English historian specialising in art history, Dutch history, Jewish history, and French history. He is a University Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University. He fir ...

, '' Rough Crossings: Britain, the Slaves and the American Revolution'' *

Bryan Ward-Perkins Bryan Ward-Perkins is an archaeologist and historian of the later Roman Empire and early Middle Ages, with a particular focus on the transitional period between those two eras, an historical sub-field also known as Late Antiquity. Ward-Perkins ...

, ''The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization''

2007

Jerry Brotton Jerry Brotton is a British historian. He is Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary University of London, a television and radio presenter and a curator. Brotton writes about literature, history, material culture, trade, and east-west rel ...

, ''The Sale of the Late King's Goods: Charles I and His Art Collection '' *

Deborah Cohen Deborah Anne Cohen (born 1968) is an American historian of modern Europe and Britain. She is the Peter B. Ritzma Professor of the Humanities and Professor of History at Northwestern University. Education and career Cohen is of Ukrainian Jewish des ...

, ''Household Gods: The British and Their Possessions'' *

, '' The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi 1857'' * J. H. Elliott, ''Empires of the Atlantic World – Britain and Spain in America, 1492–1830'' *

Vic Gatrell Vic Gatrell (or V.A.C. Gatrell) is a British historian. He is a Life Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Life Born to working-class immigrant Londoners in South Africa, Gatrell went to state schools in Pietermaritzburg and Port Eliz ...

, ''City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in Eighteenth-Century London'' *

Adam Tooze John Adam Tooze (born 1967) is an English historian who is a professor at Columbia University, Director of the European Institute and nonresident scholar at Carnegie Europe. Previously, he was Reader in Twentieth-Century History at the Universi ...

, '' The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy''

2008

, ''Hitler's Empire: Nazi Rule in Occupied Europe'' *

Philipp Blom Philipp Blom (born 1970) is a German historian, novelist, journalist and translator. Biography Blom was born in Hamburg, Germany, grew up in Detmold, and studied in Vienna and Oxford. He holds a DPhil in Modern History from Oxford University. Af ...

, ''The Vertigo Years: Change and Culture in the West 1900–1914'' * Leo Hollis, ''The Phoenix: St Paul's Cathedral and the Men Who Made Modern London '' * Frederick Spotts, ''The Shameful Peace: How French Artists and Intellectuals Survived the Nazi Occupation'' *

Clair Wills Clair Wills, , is a British academic specialising in 20th-century British and Irish cultural history and literature. Since 2019, she has been King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Murray Ed ...

, ''That Neutral Island''

2009

* Mark Thompson, ''The White War: Life & Death on the Italian Front 1915–1919''

2010s

2010

Dominic Lieven Dominic Lieven (born 19 January 1952) is a research professor at Cambridge University (Senior Research Fellow, Trinity College) and a Fellow of the British Academy and of Trinity College, Cambridge. Education Lieven was educated at Downside Sc ...

, ''Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814'' *

, '' A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years'' *

Amanda Vickery Amanda Jane Vickery (born 8 December 1962) is an English historian, writer, radio and television presenter, and professor of early modern history at Queen Mary, University of London. Education and career Vickery was born in Preston, Lancashi ...

, ''Behind Closed Doors: at Home in Georgian London''

2011

* Amanda Foreman, ''A World on Fire: an Epic History of Two Nations Divided'' *

Philip Mansel Philip Mansel (born 1951) is a historian of courts and cities, and the author of a number of books about the history of France and the Ottoman Empire. He was born in London in 1951 and educated at Eton College, Balliol College, Oxford, and obtain ...

, ''Levant: Splendour and Catastrophe in the Mediterranean'' *

Roger Moorhouse Roger Moorhouse (born 1968) is a British historian and author. Education He was born in Stockport, Cheshire, England and attended Berkhamsted School and the School of Slavonic and East European Studies of the University of London, graduating wit ...

, ''Berlin at War: Life and Death in Hitler's Capital 1939–1945'' *

Toby Wilkinson Toby Alexander Howard Wilkinson, (born 1969) is an English Egyptologist and academic. After studying Egyptology at the University of Cambridge, he was Lady Wallis Budge Research Fellow in Egyptology at Christ's College, Cambridge (1993 to 199 ...

, ''The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt: the History of a Civilisation from 3000 BC to Cleopatra''

2012

* Lizzie Collingham, ''The Taste of War: World War II and the Battle for Food'' *

, ''Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe'' * David Edgerton, ''Britain's War Machine: Weapons, Resources and Experts in the Second World War'' *

James Gleick James Gleick (; born August 1, 1954) is an American author and historian of science whose work has chronicled the cultural impact of modern technology. Recognized for his writing about complex subjects through the techniques of narrative nonficti ...

, '' The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood'' * Edward J. Larson, ''An Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science'' *

Adam Hochschild Adam Hochschild (; born October 5, 1942) is an American author, journalist, historian and lecturer. His best-known works include ''King Leopold's Ghost'' (1998), '' To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918'' (2011), ''Bur ...

, ''To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918''

2013

, '' A History of the World in Twelve Maps'' * Chris Clark, ''The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914'' * Nigel Cliff, ''The Last Crusade: The Epic Voyages of Vasco da Gama'' *

Jonathan Dimbleby Jonathan Dimbleby (born 31 July 1944) is a British presenter of current affairs and political radio and television programmes, author and historian. He is the son of Richard Dimbleby and younger brother of television presenter David Dimbleby. ...

, ''Destiny in the Desert: The Road to El Alamein'' * Keith Lowe, ''Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II'' *

, ''Governing the World: The History of an Idea''

2014

* David Crane, ''Empires of the Dead: How One Man’s Vision led to the Creation of WWI's World Graves'' *

, '' Return of a King: The Battle for Afghanistan'' *

, '' The First Bohemians: Life and Art in London's Golden Age'' *

Charlotte Higgins Charlotte Higgins, (born 6 September 1972) is a British writer and journalist. Early life and education Higgins was born in Stoke-on-Trent, the daughter of a doctor and a nurse, and received her secondary education at a local independent sc ...

, ''Under Another Sky: Journeys in Roman Britain'' * David Reynolds, ''The Long Shadow: The Great War and the Twentieth Century'' * Carl Watkins, ''The Undiscovered Country: Journeys Among the Dead''

2015

Mark Bostridge Mark Bostridge is a British writer and critic, known for his historical biographies. He was educated at Westminster School and read Modern History at St Anne's College, Oxford, from 1979 to 1984. At Oxford, he was awarded the Gladstone Memorial ...

, ''The Fateful Year: England 1914'' * Jessie Childs, ''God's Traitors: Terror and Faith in Elizabethan England'' *

Ronald Hutton Ronald Edmund Hutton (born 19 December 1953) is an English historian who specialises in Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and Contemporary Paganism. He is a professor at the University of Bristol, has written 14 bo ...

, ''Pagan Britain'' *

Robert Tombs Robert Paul Tombs (born 8 May 1949) is a British historian of France. He is professor emeritus of French history at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of St John's College, Cambridge. Prior to this, he was a reader in the subject until 200 ...

, ''The English and Their History'' *

Jenny Uglow Jennifer Sheila Uglow (, (accessed 5 February 2008).
(accessed 19 August 2022). born 1947) is an English biographer, hi ...

, ''In These Times: Living in Britain through Napoleon's Wars''

2016

* Mary Beard, '' SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome'' *

Peter Frankopan Peter Frankopan (born 22 March 1971) is a British historian, writer, and hotelier. Early life and education Frankopan is the second of five children born to Yugoslav-born Croatian Louis Doimi de Frankopan (1939–2018) and Swedish-born barris ...

, '' The Silk Roads: A New History of the World'' *

Sarah Helm Sarah Helm (born 2 November 1956) is a British journalist and non-fiction writer. She worked for ''The Sunday Times'' and ''The Independent'' in the 1980s and 1990s. Her first book ''A Life in Secrets'', detailing the life of the secret agent Ver ...

, ''If This is A Woman – Inside Ravensbruck: Hitler's Concentration Camp for Women'' *

Raghu Karnad Raghu Karnad is an Indian journalist and writer, and a recipient of the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize for Non-Fiction. He is a 2022-'23 fellow at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Librar ...

, ''The Farthest Field: An Indian Story of the Second World War'' *

James S. Shapiro James S. Shapiro (born 1955) is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University who specializes in Shakespeare and the Early Modern period. Shapiro has served on the faculty at Columbia University since 1985, teaching Shakes ...

, '' 1606: William Shakespeare and the Year of Lear'' * Nicholas Stargardt, '' The German War: A Nation Under Arms, 1939-1945''

2017

The shortlist was announced 7 June 2017. The winner was announced 10 July. *

Sarah Bakewell Sarah Bakewell (born 1963) is a British author and professor. She currently lives in London. She received the Windham–Campbell Literature Prize in Non-Fiction. Early life Bakewell was born in the seaside town of Bournemouth, England, where h ...

, ''At The Existentialist Café: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails'' *

, ''This Orient Isle: Elizabethan England and the Islamic World'' * Susan L. Carruthers, ''The Good Occupation: American Soldiers and the Hazards of Peace'' *

Dan Cruickshank Daniel Gordon Raffan Cruickshank (born 26 August 1949) is a British art historian and BBC television presenter, with a special interest in the history of architecture. Professional career Cruickshank holds a BA in Art, Design and Architecture ...

, ''Spitalfields: The History of a Nation in a Handful of Streets'' *

Frank Dikötter Frank Dikötter (; ) is a Dutch historian who specialises in modern China. Dikötter has been Chair Professor of Humanities at the University of Hong Kong since 2006. Before relocating to Hong Kong, he was Professor of the Modern History of Ch ...

, ''The Cultural Revolution: A People's History, 1962–1976'' *

David Olusoga David Adetayo Olusoga (born January 1970) is a British historian, writer, broadcaster, presenter and film-maker. He is Professor of Public History at the University of Manchester. He has presented historical documentaries on the BBC and contrib ...

, '' Black and British: A Forgotten History'' * Tim Whitmarsh, ''Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World''

2018

The shortlist was announced 22 March 2018. The winner was announced 24 June 2018. * Stephen Alford, ''London's Triumph: Merchant Adventurers and the Tudor City'' *

Anne Applebaum Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at ''The Econo ...

, '' Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine'' *

Masha Gessen Masha Gessen (born 13 January 1967) is a Russian-American journalist, author, translator and activist who has been an outspoken critic of the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and the former president of the United States, Donald Trump. Gess ...

, ''The Future is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia'' * Christopher J. Lebron, ''The Making of Black Lives Matter: A Brief History of an Idea'' *

Lynda Nead Lynda Nead is a British curator and art historian. She is currently the Pevsner Chair of the History of Art at Birkbeck, University of London. Nead's work studies British art, media, culture and often focuses on gender. Nead is a fellow of the B ...

, ''The Tiger in the Smoke: Art and Culture in Post-War Britain'' * S. A. Smith, '' Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis, 1890-1928''

2019

The winner was announced 4 December 2019. *

Edward Wilson-Lee Edward Wilson-Lee is an English literature academic at Sidney Sussex College, University of Cambridge, and a specialist in the literature and the history of the book in the early modern period. Early life Wilson-Lee is the son of wildlife conser ...

, ''The Catalogue of Shipwrecked Books: Young Columbus and the Quest for a Universal Library''

2020s

2020

The shortlist was announced on 29 October 2020. The winner was announced on 1 December 2020. *

Anita Anand Anita Anand (born May 20, 1967) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who serves as the minister of national defence since 2021. She has represented the riding of Oakville in the House of Commons since the 2019 federal election, sitting as ...

, ''The Patient Assassin: A True Tale of Massacre, Revenge, and the Raj'' * Julia Blackburn, ''Time Song: Searching for Doggerland'' *

Hazel Carby Hazel Vivian Carby (born 15 January 1948 in Okehampton, Devon) is Professor Emerita of African American Studies and of American Studies. She served as Charles C & Dorathea S Dilley Professor of African American Studies & American Studies at Yal ...

, ''Imperial: A Tale of Two Islands'' *

Toby Green Toby Green is a British historian who is a Professor of Precolonial and Lusophone African History and Culture at King's College London. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in African studies at the University of Birmingham. He is Chair of the Fo ...

, ''A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave Trade to the Age of Revolution'' * Caroline Moorhead, ''A House in the Mountains: The Women Who Liberated Italy from Fascism'' *

Thomas Penn Thomas Penn (8 March 1702 – 21 March 1775) was an English landowner and mercer who was the chief proprietor of Pennsylvania from 1746 to 1775. Penn is best known for his involvement in negotiating the Walking Purchase, a contested land cessi ...

, ''The Brothers York: An English Tragedy'' *

Roel Sterckx Roel Sterckx FBA (born 1969) is a Flemish-British sinologist and anthropologist. He is the Joseph Needham Professor of Chinese History, Science, and Civilization at Cambridge University, and a fellow of Clare College. Life and career Sterckx att ...

, ''Chinese Thought: From Confucius to Cook Ding''

2021

The shortlist was announced on 14 October 2021 and the winner on 7 December. *

Barbara Demick Barbara Demick is an American journalist. She was the Beijing bureau chief of the ''Los Angeles Times''. She is the author of ''Logavina Street: Life and Death in a Sarajevo Neighborhood'' (Andrews & McMeel, 1996). Her second book, '' Nothing to En ...

, ''Eat the Buddha: Life and Death in a Tibetan Town'' *

Chris Gosden Christopher Hugh Gosden (born 6 September 1955) is a British and Australian Archaeology, archaeologist specialising in the archaeology of Identity (social science), identity, particularly English national identity, English identity. He is Profes ...

, ''The History of Magic: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present'' *

Helen McCarthy Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and ''Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author of ...

, ''Double Lives: A History of Working Motherhood'' * Sinclair McKay, ''Dresden: The Fire and the Darkness'' * Sujit Sivasundaram, ''Waves Across the South: A New History of Revolution and Empire'' *Ben Wilson, ''Metropolis'' *

Rebecca Wragg Sykes Rebecca Wragg Sykes is a British Paleolithic Archaeology, archaeologist, broadcaster, popular science writer and author who lives in Wales. She is interested in the Middle Paleolithic, Middle Palaeolithic, specifically in the lives of Neanderthal ...

, '' Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art''

2022

The shortlist was announced on 7 October 2022. * Rebecca Birrell, ''This Dark Country: Women Artists, Still Life and Intimacy in the Early Twentieth Century'' * Raphael Cormack, ''Midnight in Cairo: The Female Stars of Egypt’s Roaring ’20s'' — honourable mention *

Amitav Ghosh Amitav Ghosh (born 11 July 1956)Ghosh, Amitav
, ''Encyclopædia Britannica''

, ''The Nutmeg's Curse'' * Julie Kavanagh, ''The Irish Assassins: Conspiracy, Revenge and the Murders that Stunned an Empire'' *

Louis Menand Louis Menand (; born January 21, 1952) is an American critic, essayist, and professor, best known for his Pulitzer-winning book ''The Metaphysical Club'' (2001), an intellectual and cultural history of late 19th and early 20th century America. L ...

, ''The Free World: Art and Thought in the Cold War'' * Ian Sanjay Patel, ''We’re Here Because You Were There: Immigration and the End of Empire'' *

Francesca Stavrakopoulou Francesca Stavrakopoulou (; born 3 October 1975) is a British biblical scholar and broadcaster. She is currently Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Religion at the University of Exeter. The main focus of her research is on the Hebrew Bible, a ...

, ''God: An Anatomy''https://www.englishpen.org/posts/news/francesca-stavrakopoulou-wins-pen-hessell-tiltman-prize-2022/

References

{{Reflist

External links

* https://www.englishpen.org/prizes/pen-hessell-tiltman-prize/ – Archive & History Awards established in 2002 2002 establishments in England English PEN awards History awards British non-fiction literary awards