Wolfson History Prize shortlist for Emeritus Professor Joya Chatterji

Trinity Fellow and Emeritus Professor of South Asian History at Cambridge Joya Chatterji’s book Shadows at Noon: The South Asian Twentieth Century has been shortlisted for the prestigious Wolfson History Prize 2024.

Now in its 52^nd year, the Wolfson History Prize champions excellence in research and readability of historical non-fiction books published in the past year.

Professor Chatterji  wrote Shadows at Noon for readers who are fascinated by the subcontinent’s cultural vibrancy and diversity but are often perplexed by its social and political make-up.

Unlike other histories of South Asia that focus on politics exclusively, Professor Chatterji gives equal prominence to food, leisure and the household in her story of the subcontinent from the British Raj to Independence and partition and on to the forging of the nations of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

The Wolfson History Prize judges said of Shadows at Noon: the South Asian Twentieth Century :

A captivating history of modern South Asia, full of fascinating insights about the lives of its peoples. Written with verve and energy, this book beautifully blends the personal and the historical.

The Wolfson History Prize is the most valuable history writing prize in the UK, with £50,000 awarded to the winner, who will be announced on 2 December 2024, and £5,000 to each of the other shortlisted authors.

Shadows at Noon has already received the Prize for the Book of the Year by Eastern Eye and Amrita Bazaar Patrika Group of newspapers and magazines, as well as the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History. It is longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Non-Fiction 2024.

The books shortlisted this year focus on major turning points in the histories of the Americas, Britain, Bangladesh, Germany, India, Pakistan and South Africa, exploring themes ranging from politics, slavery and international relations to healthcare and societal transformation.

The full short shortlist:

Shadows at Noon: the South Asian Twentieth Century by Joya Chatterji (Bodley Head)

Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire by Nandini Das (Bloomsbury Publishing)

Traders in Men: Merchants and the Transformation of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by Nicholas Radburn (Yale University Press)

Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution by Andrew Seaton (Yale University Press)

Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage by Jonny Steinberg (William Collins)

Out of the Darkness: The Germans, 1942-2022 by Frank Trentmann (Allen Lane)

The judges of the Wolfson History Prize are Professors Mary Beard, David Cannadine, Richard Evans, Sudhir Hazareesingh, Carole Hillenbrand, and Diarmaid MacCulloch.