The 2013 PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize for history has been awarded to Keith Lowe for Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II (Penguin Viking). Based on original documents, interviews and scholarly literature in eight languages, Savage Continent is a window on the brief, chaotic period between the end of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War.
The £3,000 prize is awarded annually by writers’ charity English PEN for a non-fiction book of popular history. This year’s judges were biographer and historian Philip Ziegler; Jane Ridley, professor of history and writer; and Stella Tillyard, historian, writer and Knox Fellow.
Keith Lowe will accept his prize from Chair of Judges Philip Ziegler at 4 pm on Tuesday, 16 April, as part of the English PEN Literary Café programme at the 2013 London Book Fair.