The ISIH is delighted to announce that the winner of the inaugural Constance Blackwell Prize is Jessica Patterson, for her book Religion, Enlightenment and Empire: British Interpretations of Hinduism in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2021).
The judges were deeply impressed by the originality, breadth, and rigour of Jessica Patterson’s book. Patterson shows, with great success, how the writings of several, relatively unknown British Enlightenment authors can be used to illuminate major debates over religion and empire in the eighteenth century.
Iain Stewart’s book Raymond Aron and Liberal Thought in the Twentieth Century (Cambridge University Press, 2019) was named as proxime accessit.
The Prize is awarded biennially to the best first monograph in intellectual history (broadly construed) published in the previous two years. The prize was established in memory of the Society’s founder, Constance Blackwell (1934-2018). The value of the prize is £500.