Cox Book Prize

The Cox Book Prize

The Cox Book Prize has been awarded every third year since 1989 to the author of a distinguished work of American history in the era of the American Revolution published during the previous three years. The prize is awarded by a committee consisting of members of the Society and distinguished academics in the field of early American history. The prize is made possible by an endowment gift of $100,000 from the family of Dr. H. Bartholomew Cox and was named in their honor in grateful recognition of their generosity and long service to the Society.

Divided Ground Book Cover

The most recent recipient of the Cox Book Prize is Professor Alan Taylor of the University of California at Davis, in recognition of his book The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006). In his book, Dr. Taylor explores the political, legal, economic and social issues that arose among the Indian tribes and white settlers in the struggle to control the borderland between the United States and Canada. He focuses his story on the 50-year relationship of Joseph Brant, a Mohawk Indian, and Samuel Kirkland, a missionary and land agent from Connecticut, who started as friends but became bitter adversaries as each defended the interests of his people.

The prize was presented to Professor Taylor at a black-tie dinner at Anderson House on October 25, 2007. The Society congratulates Professor Taylor and offers thanks to the members of the committee who reviewed the many outstanding books considered for the prize.

Recipients to date:

1989: Bernard Bailyn, Voyagers to the West: A Passage in the Peopling of America on the Eve of the Revolution (New York: Knopf, 1986).

1992: Peter D.G. Thomas, Tea Party to Independence: The Third Phase of the American Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991).

1995: Stanley M. Elkins and Eric L. McKitrick, The Age of Federalism (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993).

1998: Jack N. Rakove, Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution (New York: Knopf, 1996).

2001: Saul Cornell, The Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America (Chapel Hill: University of North Caroline Press, 1999).

2004: Elizabeth Fenn, Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-1782 (New York: Hill and Wang, 2001).

2007: Alan Taylor, The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers, and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2006).