Image: British Academy Book Prize
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘Understanding of Our World’
This evening (October 22), at a dinner celebration at London’s British Academy, historian Sunil Amrith’s The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years (Penguin Random House / Allen Lane) has been named the winner of the £25,000 (US$33,389) British Academy Book Prize.
In making the announcement, Rebecca Earle, a fellow of the British Academy and this year’s jury chair, said, “The Burning Earth is a magisterial account of the interconnections between human history and environmental transformation.
“It is vivid in detail and beautifully written—important reading for anyone seeking to understand the origins of today’s climate crisis.
“Sunil Amrith is a remarkable scholar whose global perspective reveals the impact of the environment on human history, as well as our impact on the environment. In fact, as he shows, it’s not really possible to separate these two.
Sunil Amrith. Image: Mara Lavitt
“It’s never an easy task to choose one winner from an exceptional shortlist of six, but our panel agreed that The Burning Earth exemplified the spirit of the prize: to deepen understanding of our world.”
Amrith is the Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History and a professor in the School of the Environment at the United States’ Yale University.
He is the author of five books, and a recipient of multiple awards including a MacArthur “Genius” fellowship, the 2024 Fukuoka Academic Prize, and the 2025 Toynbee Prize. He was born in Nairobi, grew up in Singapore, studied at Cambridge, and lives in Connecticut.
As PRH notes in its sales copy for the book, Amrith in The Burning Earth “twins the stories of environment and Empire, of genocide and eco-cide, of the expansion of human freedom and its costs. . . .He reckons with the ruins of Spanish silver mining in Peru, British gold mining in South Africa, and oil extraction in Central Asia.
“He explores the railways and highways that brought humans to new terrains of battle against each other and against nature.
“Amrith’s account of the ways in which the First and Second World Wars involved the massive mobilization not only of men, but of other natural resources from many parts of the world, provides an essential new way of understanding war as an irreversible reshaping of the planet. He also reveals the reality of migration as consequence of environmental harm.”
The president of the British Academy, Susan J. Smith, on tonight’s news of Amrith’s win, is quoted, saying, “The Burning Earth is a highly readable, timely challenge to everything you thought you knew about the drivers of environmental change across the last 500 years.
“This fresh look at the interplay of human history with the shape of the earth combines rigorous research with page-turning prose.
“It’s precisely the combination of evidence-informed insight, well-honed ideas, and great writing that we’re proud to celebrate through our annual international book prize. On behalf of the British Academy, it’s a pleasure and a privilege to congratulate Sunil Amrith on this achievement.”
In addition to the £25,000 going to Amrith, each of the shortlisted authors will receive £1,000 (US$1,335).
Repeating: The British Academy Prize 2025 Shortlist
Again this year, two of the books on the shortlist come from independent publishers: Bloomsbury Publishing and Icon Books.
Penguin Random House has two books—one each from its brands Allen Lane, and Vintage / Bodley Head.
Hachette UK’s Virago Press and HarperCollins’ William Collins each has one book on the list.
For our international readership: All listings below refer to UK editions.
| Author | Title | Publisher and/or Imprint/Brand |
| Sunil Amrith | The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years | Penguin Random House / Allen Lane |
| Lucy Ash | The Baton and the Cross: Russia’s Church From Pagans to Putin | Icon Books |
| William Dalrymple | The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Bronwen Everill | Afronomics: A History of Western Ignorance | HarperCollins / William Collins |
| Sophie Harmon | Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women’s Health | Virago Press |
| Graeme Lawson | Sound Tracks: A Musical Detective Story | Penguin Random House / Vintage / The Bodley Head |
Jurors for the 2025 Award
Joining Rebecca Earle this year on the jury were:
- Shadreck Chirikure FBA, archaeological scientist, Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science, University of Oxford;
- Bridget Kendall, a former BBC foreign correspondent;
- Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad FBA, distinguished professor of comparative religion and philosophy at Lancaster University; and
- Journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.
The British Academy Book Prize was established in 2013. According to its organizers, it “rewards and celebrates the best works of nonfiction based on exceptional research in the fields of the humanities and social sciences. It’s part of a wider programm of year-round public events supporting the Academy’s purpose—to deepen and share understanding of people, societies, and cultures across time and place, enabling everyone to learn, progress and prosper.”
This international prize “is open to authors of any nationality.”
Book covers from the British Academy Book Award’s 2025 shortlist. Image: British Academy Book Prize
More from Publishing Perspectives on publishing and book award programs is here, and more on the British Academy Book Prize is here. More from us on the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize, the honor’s original iteration, is here, and more on the United Kingdom’s book market is here.
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