Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize

Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize

The Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize is a $50,000 prize sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

The award recognizes the best book on American military history in English distinguished by its scholarship, its contribution to the literature, and its appeal to the broadest possible general reading public. Books that touch upon historic military events of other countries may be considered as long as their primary focus is on American military history.
 

Image: Storming Fort Wagner. Kurz & Allison. (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, GLC00317.02)

Depicts the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, composed of African American soldiers, leading the charge upon Fort Wagner in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina.
Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize event invitation

2024 Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize Winner

The 2024 winner is Evan Mawdsley for Supremacy at Sea: Task Force 58 and the Central Pacific Victory (Yale University Press, 2024).

An award ceremony honoring Evan Mawdsley and the two finalists for the prize, Tim Cook and Vaughn Scribner, will be held on December 2, 2025, at the Yale Club of New York. The event is free and open to the public.

Register below or write to events@gilderlehrman.org for further information.

Register

2024 Finalists

Tim Cook - The Good Allies
Evan Mawdsley - Supremacy at Sea
Vaughn Scribner - Under Alien Skies


The 2024 Finalists:
Tim Cook for The Good Allies: How Canada and the United States Fought Together to Defeat Fascism during the Second World War (Allen Lane, 2024)

Evan Mawdsley for Supremacy at Sea: Task Force 58 and the Central Pacific Victory (Yale University Press, 2024) ⭐Winner  

Vaughn Scribner for Under Alien Skies: Environment, Suffering, and the Defeat of the British Military in Revolutionary America (The University of North Carolina Press, 2024)

Submissions

Publishers, critics, and authors may submit or nominate books published in the current year. Please note that as of 2022, only books with a primary focus of American military history can be considered.

To nominate books copyrighted in 2025, please send five copies and a cover note to the address below before the submission deadline of December 31, 2025.

Daniela Muhling
Book Prize Manager
The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
49 W. 45th Street
2nd Floor
New York, NY 10036

For more information, please call 646-366-9666 ext.144 or send an email to bookprizes@gilderlehrman.org.

Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize Winners

Year Author Title
2024 Evan Mawdsley Supremacy at Sea: Task Force 58 and the Central Pacific Victory (Yale University Press, 2024)
2023 Craig L. Symonds Nimitz at War: Command Leadership from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay (Oxford University Press)
2022 Bruce Henderson Bridge to the Sun: The Secret Role of the Japanese Americans Who Fought in the Pacific in World War II (Knopf)
2021 Kevin J. Weddle The Compleat Victory: Saratoga and the American Revolution (Oxford University Press)
2020 Alexander Mikaberidze The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History (Oxford University Press)
2019 John C. McManus Fire and Fortitude: The US Army in the Pacific War, 1941–1943 (Dutton-Penguin)
2018 Andrew Lambert Seapower States: Maritime Culture, Continental Empires and the Conflict That Made the Modern World (Yale University Press)
2017 Cathal Nolan The Allure of Battle: A History of How Wars Have Been Won and Lost (Oxford University Press)
2016 Peter Cozzens The Earth Is Weeping: The Epic Story of the Indian Wars for the American West (Knopf)

Prior to 2016, the prize was known as the Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize for Military History, and was awarded to the following:
2015 David L. Preston Braddock’s Defeat: The Battle of the Monongahela and the Road to Revolution (Oxford)
2014 Alexander Watson Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914–1918 (Basic)
2013 Allen C. Guelzo Gettysburg: The Last Invasion (Knopf)

Visit the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize Winners list on Bookshop.org to purchase any of these books. We receive an affiliate commission from every purchase made through the link provided. Thank you for supporting our programs!