Indian-Origin Historian Sunil Amrith Wins British Academy Book Prize

'The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years' by Indian-origin historian Sunil Amrith has been named the winner of this year's British Academy Book Prize, a prestigious 25,000-pound award that celebrates the world's best works of non-fiction.

Amrith, a Professor of History at Yale University in the US, was born in Kenya to South Indian parents, grew up in Singapore and graduated from the University of Cambridge in England. The 46-year-old's latest book, described by judges as “important reading” in the context of the climate crisis, received the coveted prize at a ceremony at the British Academy in London on Wednesday evening.

“I've sometimes been asked whether 'The Burning Earth’ is a bleak book,” said Amrith, via live video link from the US. “There's no doubt it details a great deal of harm and suffering, both human and environmental, and it shows that the two were almost always interlinked. But in the end, what I'd like to read from the book is a sense that many parts brought us to this point of time. So there were also many paths not taken, ideas that have been forgotten, movements that may have failed but have left a lasting legacy, technologies that were humbler and more sustainable.

“And perhaps we can find, in returning to those paths not taken, seeds of inspiration for a more hopeful and less violent way of living together on this planet, which we share with each other and with so much other life that we depend on,” he said. The announcement was made by the chair of the judges, UK-based historian Professor Rebecca Earle, who described the winning work as a magisterial account of the interconnections between human history and environmental transformation. “It is vivid in detail and beautifully written – important reading for anyone seeking to understand the origins of today’s climate crisis," said Earle. “Amrith is a remarkable scholar whose global perspective reveals the impact of the environment on human history, as well as our impact on the environment. In fact, as he shows, it’s not really possible to separate these two. “It is never an easy task to choose one winner from an exceptional shortlist of six, but our panel agreed that 'The Burning Earth’ exemplified the spirit of the prize: to deepen understanding of our world,” she said.

The British Academy, the UK’s national academy for the humanities and social sciences, notes that Amrith’s “ground-breaking work of global environmental history” draws on decades of meticulous and eye-opening research to reveal how colonisation, industrialisation and the shifting patterns of human settlement have not only shaped the modern world but also fuelled the climate crisis we are now faced with.

Spanning continents and centuries – from the conquest of the Americas to British gold mining in South Africa, from the Black Death to the Second World War, Amrith takes the reader on an epic journey, offering a new perspective on humanity’s impact on the planet. “This fresh look at the interplay of human history with the shape of the earth combines rigorous research with page-turning prose. It is precisely the combination of evidence-informed insight, well-honed ideas, and great writing that we are proud to celebrate through our annual international book prize,” said Professor Susan J Smith, President of the British Academy.

The other five shortlisted works, which each receive 1,000 pounds, included 'The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ by William Dalrymple; 'The Baton and The Cross: Russia's Church from Pagans to Putin’ by Lucy Ash; 'Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance’ by Bronwen Everill; 'Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health’ by Sophie Harman; and 'Sound Tracks: A Musical Detective Story’ by Graeme Lawson. The British Academy Book Prize was established in 2013 to reward writing grounded in exceptional research in the fields of the humanities and social sciences. To be eligible for the prize, books must be works of non-fiction published in the UK, with authors of any nationality, based anywhere in the world and working in any language, provided that the nominated work is available in the English language.