Michael O'Brien, Reader in American Intellectual History and Fellow of Jesus College, has been awarded the Bancroft Prize in American History for his book, ’‘Conjectures of Order: Intellectual Life and the American South, 1810-1860’.

The Bancroft prize is the most prestigious award for books in American History and it is only the second time a British scholar has won the prize and the first time a British scholar, based in the UK, has won the award for a work on domestic American history.

Bancroft judges commented, “In what can only be described as magisterial fashion, O’Brien has chronicled the lives and works of antebellum Southern writers and thinkers.”

The Bancroft Prizes were established at Columbia University in 1948 with a bequest from Frederic Bancroft, the historian, author and librarian, to provide steady development of library resources, to support instruction and research in American history and diplomacy and to recognize exceptional books in the field.

Michael has also been selected by the Organization of American Historians (OAH) to receive the Merle Curti Award for the best book published in American social, intellectual, or cultural history. He was also nominated in the 89th Pulitzer Prizes.

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