Third installment of award seeks to recognize top works published in 2025 that showcase how the power of place informs historical scholarship
WASHINGTON, April 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The American Battlefield Trust has announced the finalists for the 2026 American Battlefield Trust Prize for History, an annual award that seeks to showcase the vital nature of historic battlefields as primary sources in literary works and amplify the pressing need for preservation to readers interested in American history.
The $50,000 award, endowed by a generous donor to ensure no funds are diverted from the Trust’s primary land preservation and education mission, recognizes an outstanding published work focused on military history or a biography central to the nation’s formative conflicts: the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War. The organization, which celebrates its 40th anniversary next July, has protected more than 60,000 acres on 160 battlefields across 25 states. Still, many more historically sensitive landscapes remain threatened.
“This summer, as our nation marks it’s 250th anniversary, countless minds will naturally turn to the events that have shaped our American story and the backdrops against which they unfolded,” said Trust president David Duncan. “We hope this award encourages more authors to embrace the irreplaceable research and perspective that come from studying the hallowed grounds of our nation’s battlefields – and galvanizes readers to action through preservation initiatives.”
The prize winner and two runners-up will be honored at a private Trust donor event in October. All finalists are invited to speak at the Trust’s Battlefield BookFest. Tickets to this exciting event, held November 13-14 in Gettysburg, Pa., will go on sale August 1.
Listed alphabetically, the finalists include:
- Rick Atkinson, The Fate of the Day: The War for America, Fort Ticonderoga to Charleston, 1777-1780 (Crown)
- Richard Bell, The American Revolution and the Fate of the World (Riverhead)
- Ken Burns and Geoffrey Ward, The American Revolution (Alfred A. Knopf)
- John Ferling, Shots Heard Round the World (Bloomsbury)
- A. Wilson Greene, A Campaign of Giants: The Battle for Petersburg Volume 2, From the Crater’s Aftermath to the Battle of Burgess Mill (University of North Carolina Press)
- Mark Edward Lender & James Kirby Martin, War Without Mercy: Liberty or Death in the American Revolution (Osprey)
- Damian Shiels, Green and Blue: Irish Americans in the Union Military (Louisiana State University Press)
For more information on the prize, including past honorees, please visit www.battlefields.org/bookprize. Share your impressions of the finalists on social media using the hashtag #BattlefieldBookPrize
The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The nonprofit, nonpartisan organization has protected more than 60,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War across 160 sites in 25 states. Learn more at www.battlefields.org.
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SOURCE American Battlefield Trust
