A trio of esteemed academics are in the running for Montreal's inaugural Cundill International Prize in History.

Organizers of the fledgling, $75,000 US literary honour, administered by McGill University, revealed a short list of three books on Tuesday:

  • Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine, and Science in the Dutch Golden Age by London-based University College professor Harold J. Cook, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine and an authority on the development of modern medicine and science.
  • Life and Death in the Third Reich by University of Illinois professor Peter Fritzsche, an expert on modern German and European history.
  • All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World by Yale University professor and Latin America historian Stuart B. Schwartz.

Altogether, 171 books were submitted for consideration for the first edition of the writing prize, with 15 titles making it through to the long list.

Jurors had "an extraordinarily difficult task" choosing the finalists, said McGill Dean of Arts and prize administrative chair Christopher Manfredi, who praised the jurors for their "time, effort and seriousness."

"It is extremely stimulating to listen to six intelligent and articulate individuals from diverse backgrounds speak about books and writing for several hours."

Jurors for the inaugural edition include Canadian writer Denise Chong, professors Angela Shottenhammer (Munich), Roger Chartier (Paris) and Natalie Zemon Davis (Toronto), Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation president Timothy Aitken and Senator Serge Joyal.

London-based investment manager Peter Cundill, a graduate of McGill University, established the lucrative prize in April. The award honours a historical book, published either in English or French, deemed "to have a profound literary, social and academic impact."

Aside from the main $75,000 US prize, two "recognition of excellence" awards worth $10,000 US each will be offered.

The inaugural Cundill International Prize in History, billed by organizers as the world's largest prize for a non-fiction work of historical literature, will be presented Nov. 25.