The Historical Society is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2002 best book and dissertation prizes

30 Historically Speaking » June 2002 The Historical Society is pleased to announce the recipients ofits 2002 best book and dissertation prizes The Eugene Genovese Best Book in American History Prize The Eugene Genovese Best Book in American History Prize, named after the distinguished historian ofthe American South and one ofthe most influential American historians ofthe last half-century, is awarded for the best book by a member ofthe Society in 2000-2001 on any subject relating to American history. The Genovese Prize carries an honorarium of$5,000. Robert L. Paquette, Hamilton College, Chair, Genovese Prize Committee: The Right to Vote is the first comprehensive history ofthe expansion ofsuffrage in the United States from the American Revolution to the present. It is an original, elegantly written, and erudite book by one ofthe most gifted craftsmen in the guild ofhistorians. Keyssar argues persuasively that the advance toward universal suffrage was not a smooth fulfillment ofa liberal promise deferred but an unsteady march whose direction was determined by contingent forces and political engagement. Keyssar's bold and lucid chronicle is filled with fascinating characters, compelling movements, and challenging ideas. Keyssar deals carefully and sensitively not only with those who sought the right to vote but also with those who sought to restrict it. His scholarship reveals a truly impressive command of sources at the national, state, and local levels. For the appendix alone, an encyclopedic listing ofstate suffrage laws from 1775 to 1920, scholars will be turning to The Right to Vote as an indispensable reference for generations to come. Alexander Keyssar is the Matthew W. Stirling, Jr. Professor ofHistory and Social Policy at the John F. Kennedy School ofGovernment, Harvard University. The Donald Kagan Best Book in European History Prize The Donald Kagan Best Book in European History Prize, named after one ofme most eminent historians ofAncient Greece, is awarded for the best book by a member ofthe Society in 2000-2001 on any subject relating to European history. The Kagan Prize carries an honorarium of $5,000. Marc Trachtenberg, University ofCalifornia-Los Angeles, Chair, Kagan Prize Committee: The Spirit ofCapitalism is a remarkable work. Greenfeld argues that it is a mistake to try to understand the phenomenon ofsustained economic growth by studying economic processes and mechanisms purely on their own terms. The how, she argues persuasively, can never explain the why: economic mechanisms "are inert unless put to use by the human will." The "take-offto sustained growth"—to use Rostow's famous phrase—cannot take place on its own. The machinery somehow has to be set in motion; the driving force therefore has to come from outside the economic realm, strictly defined; the growth process thus has to be seen as the product ofspecific historical conditions, and thus needs to be understood in distinctly historical terms. The "spirit behind the matter" is fundamental; that spirit is reflected in the culture ofthe period. Her focus therefore is not on the economic processes as such, but on the history of ideas—especially economic ideas—and on the sociology ofculture. Such a framework enables Greenfeld to make a striking argument. Nationalism, she maintains, was the key factor explaining the emergence ofthe modern economy. Indeed, the "spirit ofcapitalism was nationalism. Nationalism was the ethical motive force behind the modern economy ofgrowth." That "spirit ofcapitalism" was the "economic expression ofthe collective competitiveness inherent in nationalism;" moreover, nationalism, "being inherently egalitarian ," "necessarily promotes the type of social structure which the modern economy needs to develop." Liah Greenfeld is University Professor; Professor of Political Science and Sociology at Boston University. June 2002 · Historically Speaking 31 The Pauline Maier Best Dissertation in American History Prize The Pauline Maier Best Dissertation in American History Prize, named after one ofthe most accomplished historians ofearly America, is awarded for the best doctoral dissertation by a member ofthe Society in 2000-2001 on any subject relating to American history. The Maier Prize carries an honorarium of $1,000. David L. Carlton, Vanderbilt University, Chair, Maier Prize Committee: In "Grasslands Grown," Rozum uses collective biography to explore the intimate, personal ways in which the northern grasslands of the United States and Canada shaped the lives ofthe first generation ofEuropean settlers to grow...