McGill University’s faculty of arts has announced the shortlist for this year’s Cundill Prize in Historical Literature‚ the world’s more lucrative international literary prize for the genre. UBC Republic of China chair Timothy Brook‚ Oxford Centre for Global History director John Darwin‚ Atlantic senior editor David Frum‚ and Key Porter Books co-founder and author Anna Porter served as this year’s judges.

The three finalists will each receive a $10,000 (U.S.) purse. The winner of the $75,000 (U.S.) prize will be announced Nov. 17 at a gala in Toronto.

• Thomas W. Laqueur (U.S.)‚ The Work of the Dead: A Cultural History of Mortal Remains (Princeton University Press)
• David Wootton (U.K.)‚ The Invention of Science: A New History of the Scientific Revolution (Allen Lane)
• Andrea Wulf (U.K.)‚ The Invention of Nature: Alexander Von Humboldt’s New World (Alfred A. Knopf, John Murray Publishers)