Ramachandra Guha’s book wins Elizabeth Longford Prize

Historian and writer Ramchandra Guha’s book Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India’s Freedom has won the Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography 2023. Guha has been awarded £5,000 (₹5 lakhs approximately) and a bound copy of Elizabeth Longford’s memoir. The jury was chaired by Roy Foster. The judging committee also included Antonia Fraser and Flora Fraser (daughter and granddaughter of Longford respectively), Richard Davenport-Hines and Rana Mitter.

Rebels Against the Raj shows how historical biography can illuminate the temper of the times through immersion in individual lives. As Guha points out, oppression does not disappear with the ending of colonial rule, and the ideas and priorities incisively drawn out in this book deserve urgent attention in today’s India,”. The book has been published by Penguin Random House in India, William Collins in the U.K., and Alfred Knopf in the USA.

The award was founded in 2003 by Flora Fraser and Peter Soros to commemorate British historian Elizabeth Longford. Every year it rewards exemplary works in historical biography. The prize is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Previous winners of the award include The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling by David Gilmour, How to Survive the Titanic: The Sinking of J. Bruce Ismay by Frances Wilson, Margaret Thatcher: The Authorized Biography, Volume 1: Not for Turning by Charles Moore and Julian Jackson’s A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle.

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