Professor Vince Brown’s book, The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery, received the Merle Curti Award. The announcement was made in the April 16-22, 2009 edition of the Harvard University Gazette.

The Merle Curti Award is given annually for the best book in social and/or intellectual history; awarded by the Organization of American Historians .

Brown has also been the recipient of the James A. Rawley and Louis Gottschalk Prize, both for his book The Reaper’s Garden.

The James A. Rawley Prize was given for the first time in 1990, is awarded annually for a book dealing with the history of race relations in the United States. The prize is given in memory of Professor James A. Rawley, Carl Adolph Happold Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. It is awarded by the Organization of American Historians.

The Louis Gottschalk Prize is for outstanding historical or critical study on the eighteenth century, and is awarded by the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies.

Ana Siljak (PhD. 1997) was nominated for the 2009 Charles Taylor Prize for her book Angel of Vengeance: The “Girl Assassin” The Governor of St. Petersburg, and Russia’s Revolutionary World. Dr. Siljak is currently an Assistant Professor at Queen’s College.

Professor Afsaneh Najmabadi is part of a team that was granted a National Endowment for the Humanities grant for $346,733. The full article, “National Endowment for the Humanities supports preservation of Qajar dynasty” appeared in the April 9, 2009 edition of the Harvard Gazette.