The AHA General Meeting will take place Friday, January 9, 2004, at 8:30 p.m. in the Marriott's Marriott Ballroom Salon II. President-elect Jonathan Spence (Yale Univ.) will announce the following prize and award recipients:

Herbert Baxter Adams Prize: Named for one of the Association's founding members and its first secretary, this prize was established in 1903 for works in the field of European history. It is offered annually for an author's first substantial book, and the chronological coverage alternates between the early European period one year and the modern period the next. The 2003 prize is being awarded for the modern European period, 1815 to present day.

AHA Prize in Atlantic History: The Prize in Atlantic History was created in 1998 in accordance with the terms of a gift from James A. Rawley, Carl Adolph Happold Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. It is offered annually to recognize outstanding historical writing that explores aspects of the integration of Atlantic worlds before the twentieth century.

George Louis Beer Prize: Established by a bequest from Professor Beer, a historian of the British colonial system before 1765, this prize is offered annually in recognition of outstanding historical writing in European international history since 1895.

Albert J. Beveridge Award: This award was established in memory of Senator Beveridge of Indiana through a gift from his wife and donations from AHA members from his home state. It is awarded annually for the best English-language book on American history (United States, Canada, or Latin America) from 1492 to the present.

James Henry Breasted Prize: Established in 1985, this prize, named in honor of James Henry Breasted, a pioneer in ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern history and president of the Association in 1928, is offered for the best book in English in any field of history prior to 1000 AD. The prize has been endowed by Joseph O. Losos, a longtime member of the Association.

John H. Dunning Prize: Established by a bequest from Mathilde Dunning in 1927 to honor John Dunning, this prize is awarded (biennially in odd-numbered years) to a young scholar for an outstanding monograph in manuscript or in print on any subject relating to United States history.

John E. Fagg Prize: The American Historical Association confers the John E. Fagg Prize for the best publication in the history of Spain, Portugal, or Latin America, in honor of Professor Fagg, who taught Latin American history at New York University from 1945 to 1981.

John K. Fairbank Prize in East Asian History: Established in 1968 by friends of John K. Fairbank, an eminent historian of China and a president of the AHA in 1967, the prize is an annual award offered for an outstanding book in the history of China proper, Vietnam, Chinese Central Asia, Mongolia, Manchuria, Korea, or Japan substantially after 1800.

Herbert Feis Award: Established in 1982, this annual prize, named after Herbert Feis (1893–1972), public servant and historian of recent American foreign policy, recognizes the outstanding work of public historians or independent scholars.

Morris D. Forkosch Prize: The annual book prize recognizes the best book in English in the fields of British, British Imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485.

Leo Gershoy Award: Established in 1975 by a gift from Ida Gershoy in memory of her late husband, this annual prize is awarded to the author of the most outstanding work in English on any aspect of the field of 17th- and 18th-century western European history.

Joan Kelly Memorial Prize in Women's History: This annual prize was established in 1983 by the Coordinating Council for Women in History and is administered by the AHA. It is offered for the best work in women's history and/or feminist theory.

Littleton-Griswold Prize: This annual prize is awarded for the best book in any subject on the history of American law and society.

J. Russell Major Prize: The Major Prize is awarded annually for the best work in English on any aspect of French history. It was established in memory of J. Russell Major, a distinguished scholar of French history who served on the history faculty at Emory University from 1949 until his retirement in 1990.

Helen and Howard R. Marraro Prize: Established in 1973, the Marraro Prize is offered annually for the best work in any epoch of Italian history, Italian cultural history, or Italian-American relations.

George L. Mosse Prize: The Mosse Prize is awarded annually for an outstanding major work of extraordinary scholarly distinction, creativity, and originality in the intellectual and cultural history of Europe since the Renaissance. It was established in 2000 with funds donated by former students, colleagues, and friends of Professor Mosse, eminent scholar of European history.

Wesley–Logan Prize: The Wesley– Logan Prize in African Diaspora History is sponsored jointly by the AHA and the Association for the Study of African-American Life and History. It is awarded annually for an outstanding book on some aspect of the history of the dispersion, settlement, and adjustment and/or return of peoples originally from Africa.

Eugene Asher Distinguished Teaching Award for Post-Secondary Teaching: This prize is awarded annually for excellence in teaching techniques and knowledge of the subject of history at the post-secondary level.

Beveridge Family Teaching Prize for K–12 Teaching: Established in 1994 to recognize excellence and innovation in elementary, middle school, and secondary history teaching. Awarded on a two-year cycle rotation: individual and group. The 2003 prize will be awarded to a group.

William Gilbert Award: This biennial award recognizes outstanding contributions to the teaching of history through the publication of journal or serial articles.

John E. O'Connor Film Award: In recognition of his exceptional role as a pioneer in both teaching and research regarding film and history, the AHA established this award in honor of John E. O'Connor, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University at Newark. The award recognizes outstanding interpretations of history through the medium of film or video.

Nancy Lyman Roelker Mentorship Award: Established in 1992 by friends of Nancy Lyman Roelker to honor mentors in history, the award is offered on a three-cycle rotation. The 2003 award is for graduate mentors.

Awards for Scholarly Distinction: Established in 1984, this annual award recognizes senior historians of the highest distinction who have spent the bulk of their professional careers in the United States.

President's Address: After the presentation of awards and honors, AHA President James M. McPherson (Princeton Univ.) will deliver his presidential address, "No Peace without Victory, 1861–65." In this address, McPherson will use the American Civil War as a case study to illustrate why nations find it harder to end a war than to start one. Like World War II, the Civil War did not end with a negotiated peace but with unconditional surrender by the losing armies. The issues over which the Civil War was fought—Union versus Disunion, Freedom versus Slavery—proved to be nonnegotiable. Nevertheless, during the war there were numerous proposals and efforts to achieve peace through negotiations. These efforts proceeded through three stages: foreign mediation, unofficial contacts, and quasi-official conversations. All failed. The address will analyze the aborted effort by Britain and France to mediate the conflict and end the war on the basis of Confederate independence in 1862, the unofficial contacts between Northern civilians and Confederate officials in 1864, and the Hampton Roads conference of February 1865 in which President Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of State William H. Seward met with three Confederate officials, including Vice-President Alexander Stephens. All of these efforts foundered on the irreconcilable positions of Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis. As Lincoln himself put it, Davis "cannot voluntarily reaccept the Union; we cannot voluntarily yield it. Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple, and inflexible. It is an issue which can only be tried by war, and decided by victory."

Following the meeting, members are invited to attend the presidential reception in the Marriott's Marriott Ballroom Salon I.