If there’s just one title you’ll read this year, make it Mary Beth Norton’s 1774: The Long Year of Revolution, which recently won the 2021 George Washington Prize. Created by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, and Washington College, the $50,000 George Washington Prize is one of the nation’s largest and most notable literary awards. A gala event is planned for May 2022.

The book (published by Alfred A. Knopf) describes a key year in the revolutionary transformation of American resistance to Britain, charting the troubled course of events from the destruction of tea in Boston to the marching of British troops on Lexington and Concord. According to the jury, “This work helps us see more clearly than ever before just how colonial leaders ‘practiced independence in thought and deed’ long before the Declaration of July 4, 1776.”

Beyond merely promoting new scholarly works and research developments, the George Washington Prize pays special attention to works that have the potential to inspire the general public to learn more about American history. “At a time when questions about America’s past are so central to discussions of our nation’s present and future, books like these are essential reading,” said Adam Goodheart, director of Washington College’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience.

But don’t stop with Norton’s book, as the other six finalists are also worth putting on your reading list. “Every day we see evidence that Americans care deeply about the history of the founding of the United States,” commented Doug Bradburn, president of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. “Each of these books provides a window into that transformational era, and sheds light as well on the world we are all making together ... all worthy finalists in a very competitive field.”

2021 Finalists:
Aristocratic Education and the Making of the American Republic
Mark Boonshoft discusses the much-neglected history of private academies and the origins of public education between the American Revolution and the Civil War. (University of North Carolina Press)

Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War
Vincent Brown delves into the 1760 slave revolt in Jamaica, the largest in British America. The book highlights the connections among European, African, and American history and shows how the violence necessary to maintain slavery shaped the British Empire and the coming of the American Revolution. (Harvard University Press)

Tecumseh and the Prophet: The Shawnee Brothers Who Defied a Nation
Peter Cozzens highlights a different facet of the life of Tecumseh, the famed Native American leader and intercultural diplomat. His book shows readers how Tecumseh’s life and that of his brother Tenskwatawa are intertwined with the history of the early American Republic. (Alfred A. Knopf)

​The Age of Phillis
Based on extensive archival research, poet Honorée Jeffers not only takes readers into the story of the writer Phillis Wheatley and her poetry, but also into the time of the American Revolution. In so doing, she reveals how that past sometimes echoes in the present. (Wesleyan University Press)

The President Who Would Not Be King: Executive Power Under the Constitution
Michael W. McConnell explores the creation of the presidency in the American founding. He examines the historical context of the decisions the framers of the Constitution made about the powers of the president and their efforts to ensure that he could govern but never rule. (Princeton University Press)

A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery From the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War
William G. Thomas III combines his family history with original archival research on the “freedom suits” that put the institution of slavery itself on trial in U.S. courts between 1787 and 1861. His research debunks the myth that the inhumane institution stood on firm legal ground. (Yale University Press)