For the first time, we present the winners of some of the world’s most prestigious history prizes. The summary provides insight into the direction in which world historiography is heading. If we were to look for a common trait between the distinguished books and the issues they raise, it would be disagreement with an unchanging image of the past and the desire to update it.

UNITED STATES

Pulitzer Prize for History – since 1917, the jury of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York has awarded prizes to creators in the fields of literature, journalism and music. One of the categories is intended to honor the author of the best historical book devoted to the history of the United States. They received the award in 2022 ex aequo two historians from New York University: Ada Ferrer for the book “Cuba: an American story” (Cuba: An American History) and Nicole Eustache behind “Covered by Night: A Story of Murder and Native Justice in Early America” (Under the Cover of Night: Murder and Indigenous Justice in Colonial America).

Eustace’s book revolves around the murder of an Iroquois hunter in 1722 by two European settlers. This apparently insignificant crime served as a starting point for the author to confront two extremely different conceptions of justice and the forms of its administration. Represented by Native Americans, it was a chain of centuries-old rituals, including confessions of guilt, sympathy for victims and their families, reparations, and ceremonies that repaired weakened bonds of trust. At the other extreme was the Anglo-European idea of ​​justice, based on individual responsibility, limited to the guilt of the direct perpetrator and ignoring the need for reconciliation.

Original title of the text: “The Magnificent Eight”