H. Wayne Morgan Book Prize

H. Wayne Morgan Book Prize

The Society for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
H. Wayne Morgan Prize
for the best book published in political history
of United States in the period 1865-1920s

The prize is given in honor of H. Wayne Morgan, who was the George Lynn Cross Research Professor of History at the University of Oklahoma and a foundational historian of the Gilded Age. Please read our tribute to Morgan here. The H. Wayne Morgan Prize is awarded in odd-numbered years for the best book published in the political history of United States in the period 1865-1920s. Edited volumes and collections are not eligible. Books translated into English are eligible if they meet other criteria for the prize.

Winners of this award will be honored at the annual SHGAPE luncheon at the OAH and will receive a certificate and an honorarium.

Books written in English and published in the previous two years are eligible. Authors or their publishers should send a published copy of each nominated book to all three members of the prize committee by the postmark deadline of October 15, 2026. A letter of nomination postmarked no later than October 15 is acceptable, as long as the book itself follows shortly thereafter. For books published between October 15 and December 31, 2026, final page proofs may be substituted, but in such cases, a bound copy of the book must be provided to each committee member in January. If a book was published during the eligible period but carries a different copyright date, include a letter of explanation with each copy mailed to the committee members.

Mailing addresses for 2027 prize committee are listed below (or will be added as the date approaches). Hard copies are preferred, but email addresses are also included for digital submissions (label each entry “2027 Morgan Book Prize”):

Past Awardees

2023 Morgan Prize Winner:

William J. Novak, The Creation of the Modern American State (Harvard University Press, 2022)

2023 Honorable Mention:

Benjamin Hoy, A Line of Blood and Dirt: Creating the Canada-United States Border Across Indigenous Lands (Oxford University Press, 2021)

2021 Morgan Prize Winner:

Charlie Laderman, Sharing the Burden: The Armenian Question, Humanitarian Intervention, and Anglo-American Visions of Global Order (Oxford University Press, 2019)

2021 Honorable Mention:

Charles Postel, Equality: An American Dilemma, 1866-1896 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019)

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Membership in SHGAPE affords you a place in the primary professional network of Gilded Age and Progressive Era scholars.  Your membership gains you entry into a vibrant and growing community and helps to advance your understanding of a critical period in American history.  As a self-supporting organization, SHGAPE depends on its members to continue its current activities and take on new initiatives

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