Tuesday 9 September 2025
- £25,000 international non-fiction prize
- Themes explored: music and archaeology; the misconceptions of African economics; global environmental history; Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church; the exploitation of women’s health in global politics; and a new account of the influence of India
- Six-strong shortlist: “a tribute to the importance of the humanities and social sciences in understanding our world”
- Winner to be announced Wednesday 22 October
London: today, Tuesday 9 September, the British Academy reveals the shortlist for the British Academy Book Prize 2025.
Now in its 13th year, the international prize, worth £25,000, rewards and celebrates writing grounded in high-quality research – works of non-fiction that will inspire readers to deepen their understanding of people, society and cultures across time and place.
The judges of this year’s British Academy Book Prize have chosen a shortlist of six bold and original works by distinguished authors – all recognised authorities in their fields. Spanning a broad range of subjects from the global politics of women’s health to Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, these books lead readers across continents and the pivotal moments in their history. Each title offers a new perspective on issues of global importance, united by rigorous research and a remarkable ability to tell powerful stories in an engaging and compelling way.
The six books are (in alphabetical order by author surname):
- The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years
by Sunil Amrith (Allen Lane / Penguin) - The Baton and The Cross: Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin
by Lucy Ash (Icon Books) - The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World
by William Dalrymple (Bloomsbury Publishing) - Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance
by Bronwen Everill (Williams Collins) - Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women’s Health
by Sophie Harman (Virago Press) - Sound Tracks: A Musical Detective Story
by Graeme Lawson (The Bodley Head / Vintage)
Chair of judges Professor Rebecca Earle, Fellow of the British Academy comments:
“From over 230 entries our panel identified six for our shortlist. They cover topics from the West’s persistent misunderstanding of African economies, to the archaeology of our musical past. They consider the ‘golden road’ that spread Indian religious and mathematical practices across China, Southeast Asia and beyond, and the Russian Orthodox Church’s complicated relationship with the region’s political rulers over the past millennium. They demonstrate the central role of the environment in creating the modern world, and reveal the forces that condemn women around the globe to poor health, while also offering practical actions readers can take to address this. Together they offer an acute diagnosis of how we got to where we are. They also remind us of the importance of culture to our lives and the lives of people in previous centuries. Each one of these well-written and well-researched books is a tribute to the importance of the humanities and social sciences in understanding our world.”
JoiningProfessor Earleon the 2025 judging panel are: Professor Shadreck Chirikure FBA, Archaeological Scientist, Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science, University of Oxford; the former BBC foreign correspondent Bridget Kendall Hon FBA; Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad FBA, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University; and journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.
JUDGES’ COMMENTS ON THE 2025 SHORTLIST
On The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years bySunil Amrith, which draws on two decades of research: “By placing the environment at the centre of human history, Amrith shows clearly that our relationship with the natural world cannot be separated from the history of political power, inequality and justice. Amrith’s skilful combination of deep scholarship and clear writing, with a focus on individual stories and vivid examples, makes The Burning Earth the sort of book one might call ‘urgent’ in its attention to the deep historical roots of today’s climate emergency.”
On The Baton and The Cross: Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin, the debut by Lucy Ash, an award-winning presenter of radio and TV documentaries: “Power and politics are woven into the history of the Russian Orthodox Church. The Baton and the Cross traces those threads through time, to the modern day and shows how Vladimir Putin has co-opted the church into reinforcing his vision of the country’s social and political identity. The war in Ukraine is central to this partnership. Using a compelling mix of history and reportage, The Baton and the Cross provides a clarifying prism through which to view Putin’s Russia.”
On The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by Delhi-based historian William Dalrymple: “In a brilliant display of imaginative synthesis, William Dalrymple brings together areas of scholarship that seldom engage with each other – on classical India, Tang China, 10th century Southeast Asia, the classical Islamic world and Renaissance Europe – to build his powerful case: the influence of Indian science, architecture, art and religious thought created a millennium-long and continent-spanning ‘Indosphere’, whose influence is with us today. The book is vivid in detail, lively in description and dazzling in range. It offers us a new way of thinking of global history.”
On Bronwen Everill’s ground-breaking third book Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance: “With the power of incisive analysis, and a beautifully woven, compelling narrative, Bronwen Everill masterfully makes the case that – beginning with the slave trade, continuing through the colonial economy to contemporary development – well-meaning initiatives failed to produce desired outcomes in Africa because of western ignorance. Peeling off layers of ignorance chapter by chapter, the book skilfully and convincingly transforms everything we knew about agency in the global economic history centred on relations between Africa, the Atlantic, and Europe. It is only after understanding Africa’s culture, values, and beliefs from within that any well-meaning external solutions can produce desirable outcomes. Everill overturns conventions to offer fresh insights on African-grounded global history and intercultural dialogue.”
On Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women’s Health by Sophie Harman, a leading expert in global health politics: “This is a powerful book, an impassioned plea for more attention for women’s health. These invisible health and social care workers the world over are often underfunded, if funded at all, unprotected and abused. Women’s health, says Sophie Harman, has become a branding tool to win power and influence or even ‘healthwash’ an authoritarian regime. Even charities exploit women when using images of the vulnerable to help raise funds. Sick of It is a book that is hard to ignore.”
On Sound Tracks: A Musical Detective Story by the archaeologist, musician and historian Graeme Lawson: “Starting in the present and working backward into the deep past, like an archaeological dig, Sound Tracks is a glorious illustration of our long relationship with music. Each short chapter focuses on a single archaeological find or set of finds, to show how people have always made music. Lawson’s expertise in everything from replicating medieval bone flutes, to stringing lyres, brings to life the sounds and significance of our ancestors’ musical worlds.”
Commenting on the 2025 shortlist, David Lea, Deputy Bookshop Manager at the London Review Bookshop said:
“We always eagerly await the British Academy shortlist, which unerringly settles on some of the most mind-expanding recent titles across a range of disciplines and continents. This year is no exception. Every one of these six deeply researched and fascinating books challenges received wisdom and raises the bar for future research on all of their various subjects.”
Two of the books on the shortlist come from independent publishers: Bloomsbury Publishing and Icon Books. Penguin Random House has two books – from Allen Lane / Penguin and from The Bodley Head / Vintage, while Virago Press and William Collins each have one book on the list.
SHORTLIST EVENT AND WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT
Ahead of the winner announcement the 2025 shortlisted writers will be brought together for an exclusive event on Tuesday 21 October at the British Academy, in partnership with the London Review Bookshop, and chaired by the award-winning journalist Rosie Goldsmith. The winner of the £25,000 prize will be announced at an award ceremony on Wednesday 22 October. Each of the shortlisted writers will receive £1,000.
LAST YEAR’S WINNER AND IMPACT
The winner in 2024 was Ross Perlin for Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues. In the week after winning the Prize, his publisher Grove Press UK reported that sales trebled and it went on to become a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week. Since then, Language City has been reprinted twice and Perlin has benefitted from increased exposure through media interviews and festival events – and an expanded network of linguists and activists.
Further information about the British Academy Book Prize can be found here.
For media enquiries and to request interviews with Professor Rebecca Earle and the shortlisted authors, please contact:
Jane Acton: jane@janeactonpr.co.uk / 07971 661576