Booklist

The British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding 2021

Selected by the Bookshop


The British Academy Book Prize for Global Cultural Understanding celebrates the best works of non-fiction that have contributed to public understanding of world cultures. 

This year’s shortlist introduces readers to four books on urgent and globally significant topics: racism in America (approached through the example of the writer James Baldwin); the role of the modern colonial nation-state in the creation of ‘permanent minorities’ around the world; the legacies of revolution and empire when viewed from the ‘small seas’ of the global South; and life in the ‘blighted post-human’ landscapes of a deteriorated planet.

Chair of the judges Patrick Wright said of the shortlist, ‘Through meticulous research and compelling argument each writer shortlisted for this important prize casts new light on a globally significant problem … In different ways, the books all speak directly to the urgent challenges of the times in which we live.’

Join the four shortlisted authors for a live online event on Wednesday 13 October – tickets are free and can be booked via the British Academy.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 26 October.

From the publisher:
THE SUNDAY TIMES’ BESTSELLER AND SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT BOOK OF THE YEARWINNER OF THE SUNDAY TIMES YOUNG WRITER OF THE YEAR AWARDSHORTLISTED FOR THE BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZESHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT CONSERVATION…

From the publisher:
THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER'Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again.' JAMES BALDWINA searing indictment of racial injustice in America - inspired by the…

From the publisher:
Prospect Top 50 Thinker of 2021British Academy Book Prize FinalistPROSE Award Finalist"Provocative, elegantly written."-Fara Dabhoiwala, New York Review of Books"Demonstrates how a broad rethinking of political issues becomes possible when…

From the publisher:
WINNER OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY PRIZE FOR GLOBAL CULTURAL UNDERSTANDING 2021‘Waves Across the South is a riot of ingenuity, a truly powerful and new history of revolutions and empires, re-imagined through the environmental lens of…

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