Pritzker Military Museum & Library Announces 2016 Literature Award Recipient
Hew Strachan wins $100,000 prize for lifetime achievement in military writing
CHICAGO, June 20, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Award winning historian, author and military strategist Hew Strachan is the 10th recipient of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.
The Pritzker Literature Award—which includes a $100,000 honorarium—recognizes and honors the contributions of a living author for a body of work dedicated to enriching the understanding of military history and affairs. Museum & Library Founder & Chair Jennifer N. Pritzker, a retired colonel in the Illinois National Guard, will formally present Strachan with the award at the organization's annual Liberty Gala on November 5, in Chicago.
"Winning the Pritzker Literature Award means a great deal to me," said Strachan, "I have given my lifetime to the study of military history, and the Pritzker award is a recognition of a lifetime achievement. So, for me, this is a form of validation of something to which I have dedicated many, many years of time and effort."
Strachan is the author of 14 major publications including the first installment of his groundbreaking three-volume work on the Great War, The First World War (To Arms). His research interests center on the military history and strategic studies, with particular interest in the First World War and the history of the British Army. He has been significantly involved in the centennial observations of the First World War in the UK, Scotland and France.
"As we are now in the midst of the centennial of World War One – 1914-1918 – I could think of no one more appropriate for this award than Hew Strachan to provide a global view of a war of 100 years ago that still deeply affects the lives of all of us," reflected Colonel Pritzker.
Now in its tenth year, the Pritzker Literature award was first presented to historian James McPherson in 2007. Past recipients – several of whom served as members of the award's 2016 screening committee – are Allan Millett, Gerhard Weinberg, Rick Atkinson, Carlo D'Este, Sir Max Hastings, Tim O'Brien, Antony Beevor, and David Hackett Fischer.
A graduate of Cambridge University, Strachan is Professor of International Relations at the University of St. Andrews, a Life Fellow of Corpus Christi College of Cambridge, and Emeritus Fellow of All Souls College of Oxford University.
Strachan is a member of the Chief of Defense Staff's Strategic Advisory Panel, the Defense Academy Advisory Board, and was a specialist advisor to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the National Security Strategy. His services to the Ministry of Defense earned him a knighthood in 2013.
The Pritzker Literature Award is sponsored by the Tawani Foundation. To learn more about the award or the selection process, or to watch the 2015 Literature Award recipient, David Hackett Fischer, announce Hew Strachan as this year's winner, visit www.pritzkermilitary.org.
ABOUT THE PRITZKER MILITARY MUSEUM & LIBRARY
The Pritzker Military Museum & Library is open to the public and features a TV studio and extensive collections of books, artifacts, and rotating exhibits covering many eras and branches of the military. From its founding in 2003, it is a physical and online center where citizens and citizen soldiers come together to learn about military history and the role of the military in a democracy. The PMML is a non-partisan, non-government information center and is the founding sponsor of the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission.
Contact:
Megan Williams, Director of External Affairs
mwilliams@pritzkermilitary.org, 312.374.9333
Scott Manning, Scott Manning & Associates
scott@scottmanningpr.com, 646.517.2825
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