Canadian author Jonathan Cheng is one of the three finalists for this year’s Cundill History Prize.
The annual $75,000 US (approx. $106,383 Cdn) prize recognizes the best historical nonfiction book, with a focus on historical scholarship, originality and broad appeal.
Administered by Montreal’s McGill University, the prize is open to any book about any historical period and to all authors of any nationality.
Cheng, originally from Toronto, is the China bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal. He is a finalist for his book Korean Messiah: Kim II Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea’s Personality Cult.
In Korean Messiah, the former Korea bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal looks at North Korea’s Kim dynasty and its ties to American Christianity.
“Drawing on letters, diaries and never-before-unearthed archival material that temper and oftentimes contradict the glorious historical record promoted by Kim Il Sung’s legions of hagiographers, 조선 메시아 tells the true story of a country shrouded in fictions,” wrote the jury in a press statement.
The other two books nominated are The First Ghetto by British scholar Alexander Lee and John Doe Chinaman by American scholar Beth Lew-Williams.
The longlist, shortlist, finalists and winner were chosen by a jury, chaired by classics scholar Emily Greenwood. The jury is rounded out by scholars Ned Blackhawk and Barbara Weinstein, and journalist Fergal Keane.
The winner will be announced on Oct. 23 at a ceremony in Montreal.
Last year’s winner was Australian historian Lyndal Roper for Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants’ War.
Other previous winners include Kathleen DuVal, Tania Branigan, Tiya Miles, Marjoleine Kars and Camilla Townsend.