Morris D. Forkosch Prize
The 2020 submission deadline has passed. Awardees will be announced this fall.
The American Historical Association offers the Morris D. Forkosch Prize annually in recognition of the best book in English in the field of British, British imperial, or British Commonwealth history since 1485. Submission of books relating to the shared common law heritage of the English-speaking world are particularly encouraged in memory of the late Professor Forkosch’s contributions to the field of legal studies and legal history. See the list of past recipients.
The general rules for submission are:
- Books with a copyright of 2020 will be eligible for the 2021 competition.
- 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 marked “Forkosch Award 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 Forkosch Prize
Tawny Paul, University of California, Los Angeles
The Poverty of Disaster: Debt and Insecurity in Eighteenth-Century Britain (Cambridge Univ. Press)
Tawny Paul’s fascinating study transforms our understanding of the making of the British middle class. In contrast to narratives about rising incomes and an expanding consumer society, Paul places gnawing financial insecurity and the fear of the debtor’s prison at the heart of class formation. Attentive to gender, emotion, embodiment, and regional variation, her book is methodologically sophisticated and engagingly written, and vividly illuminates the lives and relationships of the 18th-century middling sort.