Overview
- The Yale historian received the £25,000 non-fiction award at a British Academy ceremony in London, appearing via live video from the United States.
- Chair Rebecca Earle praised the work as a magisterial account and said it is important reading for understanding the origins of today’s climate crisis.
- The Burning Earth contends that human and Earth histories are inseparable, charting political drivers of environmental change from empire and extraction to pandemics and war over five centuries.
- The prize, established in 2013, also awarded £1,000 to each of five shortlisted titles by William Dalrymple, Lucy Ash, Bronwen Everill, Sophie Harman and Graeme Lawson.
- An Indian-origin historian and Yale professor, Amrith has previously been honored with a MacArthur Fellowship, the 2024 Fukuoka Academic Prize and the 2025 Toynbee Prize.