University of Colorado at Boulder Associate Professor Fred Anderson recently received two prestigious awards for his book "Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754-1766."
In early May Anderson received both the 2001 Francis Parkman Prize of the Society of American Historians and the Mark Lynton History Prize, which is part of the Lukas Prize Project established in 1998 to honor the best in American nonfiction writing.
The Parkman Prize, first awarded in 1958, is given annually for the "best book on American history" by the Society of American Historians, an organization that promotes literary distinction in historical writing. The prize includes $2,500, a bronze medal and membership into the society, which only has 250 elected fellows and 17 publisher members.
The Mark Lynton History Prize is awarded annually by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University for "the book-length work of history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual or scholarly distinction with felicity of expression."
It is given in memory of Mark Lynton, a senior executive at Hunter Douglas in the Netherlands. The prize includes a $10,000 award.
"This year Fred Anderson has given the university community clear evidence that he is one of the foremost scholars of early American history in the country," said Thomas Zeiler, chair of the history department at CU-Boulder. "The two book prizes followed appearances around the country and on television to discuss his book."
Zeiler said CU-Boulder's history department has had an exceptional year, with faculty members receiving major book prizes, international fellowships and university research awards. Two CU-Boulder history professors also will serve as editors of Diplomatic History, a premier journal in the field of foreign relations history.
"Crucible of War" is a narrative that explains the significance of the Seven Years' War in American history, and the war's role in developing the attitudes and issues that would result in the Revolutionary War. In it, Anderson lays out the battles, landscapes and personalities of the war, allowing readers to see how the personalities of George Washington and King George II, among others, shaped the outcome of the conflict Winston Churchill called the first world war.
"Crucible of War" was published in 2000.
Anderson is the author of two books. His first book "A People's Army: Massachusetts Soldiers and Society in the Seven Years' War," published in 1984, received the Jamestown Prize from the Institute of Early American History and Culture as best first book in early American history.
He received his bachelor's degree in history from Colorado State University in 1971. He earned his master's degree and doctoral degree in history at Harvard, completing his doctorate in 1981.
Anderson also was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship for the 2001-2002 academic year. While on leave, he hopes to complete a third book, "The Dominion of War: Empire and Liberty in North American History, 1500-2000," which he is co-authoring with Professor Andrew Cayton of Miami University in Ohio.
Anderson's research and teaching focus on the colonial period, the era of the American Revolution and early national U.S. history.