Columbia University announced today that three acclaimed works will be awarded the 2018 Bancroft Prizes in American History and Diplomacy: Implacable Foes: War in the Pacific, 1944-1945  by Waldo Heinrichs and Marc Gallicchio (Oxford University Press, 2017); God’s Red Son: The Ghost Dance Religion and the Making of Modern America by Louis S. Warren (Basic Books, 2017); and Darkness Falls on the Land of Light: Experiencing Religious Awakenings in Eighteenth-Century New England by Douglas L. Winiarski (University of North Carolina Press for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, 2017).

The Trustees of Columbia University award the Bancroft Prizes annually.  Winners are judged in terms of the scope, significance, depth of research, and richness of interpretation they present in the areas of American history and diplomacy.  There were 247 books submitted for consideration for the 2018 prize.

Columbia Provost John H. Coatsworth will present the awards at the Bancroft Prizes dinner next month, hosted by the department of history and Columbia University Libraries. Vice Provost and University Librarian Ann Thornton administers the Bancroft Prizes, which include an award of $10,000 for each winning book.

About the Bancroft Foundation:  The Edgar A. and Frederic Bancroft Foundation is an endowment created at Columbia University by the late Frederic Bancroft to further scholarly work in two ways. The income from the Foundation generously provides for steady development of library resources to support research in American history and diplomacy. The bequest also provides for recognition of books of exceptional merit and distinction in these fields by annual awarding prizes to the authors.