George L. Mosse Prize
The 2020 submission deadline has passed. Awardees will be announced this fall.
The American Historical Association awards the George L. Mosse Prize annually for an outstanding major work of extraordinary scholarly distinction, creativity, and originality in the intellectual and cultural history of Europe since 1500. This prize was established with funds donated by former students, colleagues, and friends of Dr. Mosse. See the list of past recipients.
The general rules for submission are:
- Only books of a high scholarly distinction should be submitted. Research accuracy, originality, and literary merit are important selection factors.
- Books with a copyright of 2020 are eligible for the 2021 award.
- Nomination submissions may be made by an author or by a publisher. Publishers may submit as many entries as they wish. Authors or publishers may submit the same book for multiple AHA prizes.
- Nominators must complete an online prize submission form for each book submitted.
- One copy of each entry must be sent to each committee member and clearly labeled “Mosse Prize Entry.” Print copies preferred unless otherwise indicated. If only e-copy is available, please contact review committee members beforehand to arrange submission format.
Please Note: Entries must be received by May 15, 2021, to be eligible for the 2021 competition. Entries will not be returned. Recipients will be announced on the AHA website in October 2021 and recognized during a ceremony at the January 2022 AHA annual meeting in New Orleans.
For questions, please contact the Prize Administrator.
This year's submission deadline has passed.
The review committee contact information and prize submission form for the next competition will be posted by March 1 for submissions due May 15.
2020 Mosse Prize
Joan Neuberger, University of Texas at Austin
This Thing of Darkness: Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible in Stalin’s Russia (Cornell Univ. Press)
Joan Neuberger’s This Thing of Darkness is a beautifully written microhistory of Sergei Eisenstein’s unfinished cinematic trilogy, Ivan the Terrible. By means of a wide variety of sources, from Eisenstein’s diaries and notes to archival materials, she ties in international and national politics to her analysis of the characters, content, and production of the film. Her brilliant analysis admirably demonstrates what happens to aesthetic theory and practice in the hands of a genius at an existential political moment.