William Dalrymple's ‘The Golden Road’, Sunil Amrith’s ‘The Burning Earth’ shortlisted for British Academy Book Prize

London, Sep 9 (PTI) Bestselling author William Dalrymple’s ‘The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World’ and Sunil Amrith’s ‘The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years’ are among six non-fiction works shortlisted for the British Academy Book Prize 2025 in London on Tuesday.

The prize, now in its 13th year and worth 25,000 pounds, rewards and celebrates the best works of non-fiction based on exceptional research in the fields of the humanities and social sciences.

Dalrymple, a historian-author who divides his time between India and the UK, has been recognised for his latest work which charts the influence of Indian science, architecture, art and religious thought over millennia.

US-based Amrith, who was born in Kenya to South Indian parents and grew up in Singapore, has been chosen for placing the environment at the centre of human history with his book.

“In a brilliant display of imaginative synthesis, William Dalrymple brings together areas of scholarship that seldom engage with each other... 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 judges said of Dalrymple's book, which they said was “vivid in detail, lively in description and dazzling in range”.

“It offers us a new way of thinking of global history,” the judges noted.

Amrith’s work, which draws on two decades of research, shows how human 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,” the judges said.

The other books on the shortlist picked from 230 entries include: ‘The Baton and The Cross: Russia's Church from Pagans to Putin’ by Lucy Ash, ‘Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance’ by Bronwen Everill, ‘Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health’ by Sophie Harman and ‘Sound Tracks: A Musical Detective Story’ by Graeme Lawson.

Professor Rebecca Earle, Fellow of the British Academy and chair of the judging panel, said: “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.” Her judging panel is made up of Professor Shadreck Chirikure, Archaeological Scientist, Edward Hall Professor of Archaeological Science, University of Oxford; former BBC foreign correspondent Bridget Kendall; Professor Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Distinguished Professor of Comparative Religion and Philosophy at Lancaster University; and journalist and broadcaster Ritula Shah.

The winner of the coveted prize will be announced at an award ceremony in London on October 22, with each of the shortlisted writers receiving 1,000 pounds.

To be eligible for the prize, books must be works of non-fiction published in the UK between April 2024 and March 2025. Authors can be of any nationality and may be based anywhere in the world and working in any language, provided that the nominated work is available in the English language. PTI AK SCY SCY