Jack Temple Kirby and Robert D. Richardson have won the prestigious Bancroft Prize for 2007. One of the most coveted honors in the field of history, the Bancroft Prize is awarded annually by Columbia University to the authors of books of exceptional merit in the fields of American history, biography, and diplomacy. Jack Temple Kirby, W. E. Smith Professor Emeritus of History at Miami University (Ohio), won for his Mockingbird Song: Ecological Landscapes of the South. Robert D. Richardson won for his biography William James: In the Maelstrom of American Modernism.

The prize, which includes an award of $10,000 to each author, is administered by the Columbia University Libraries. “We were very impressed by the number of excellent submissions covering a broad range of themes and are proud to honor this year’s winners. The Bancroft Prize is a celebration and affirmation of historical scholarship, the library, the book, the academic press and the reportedly threatened scholarly monograph,” said university librarian James Neal.

The awards will be presented on May 1, 2007.

From a Columbia University press release.

This post first appeared on AHA Today.