From an excellent field of 46 entries, five books drawn from across Canada made the shortlist for the 2014 John W. Dafoe Book Prize, including The Canadian Rangers: A Living History, by uWaterloo History professor Whitney Lackenbauer.
The Book Prize, valued at $10,000 is awarded to the best book on “Canada, Canadians and/or Canada’s place in the world” published in the previous calendar year. The book prize memorializes John Wesley Dafoe, one of the most significant Canadian editors of the 20th century. It is one of the richest book awards for non-fiction excellence about Canada, Canadians and the Canadian nation in international affairs.
Whitney Lackenbauer is an associate professor and chair of the department of history at St. Jerome’s University (University of Waterloo), who specializes in Arctic sovereignty and security issues, Aboriginal-state relations, circumpolar history, and modern Canadian military, diplomatic and political history. He is currently co-chairing the Arctic Peoples and Security Working Group of the Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation-Munk School of Global Affairs Arctic Security Program.
Other 2014 short-listed contenders include:
- Susan Delacourt. Shopping for Votes: How Politicians Choose Us and We Choose Them. Madiera Park, B.C: Douglas & McIntyre.
- David O’Keefe. One Day in August: The Untold Story Behind Canada’s Tragedy at Dieppe. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada
- John L. Riley. The Once and Future Great Lakes Country: An Ecological History. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- Paul Wells. The Longer I’m Prime Minister: Stephen Harper and Canada 2006-. Toronto: Random House.
The winner will be named later in the spring, and collect the award at the J.W. Dafoe Foundation’s Annual Book Prize Dinner in May.
Congratulations, Whitney on this deserved achievement!