
A history of the Taiping rebellion by Stephen R. Platt, associate professor of History, is one of three finalists for McGill University’s 2012 Cundill Prize, the world’s most lucrative award for a non-fiction book.
“Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom: China, the West and the Epic Story of the Taiping Civil War,” published earlier this year by Alfred A. Knopf, was chosen from among 143 works submitted by publishers from all over the globe. The competition, now in its fifth year, features a $75,000 U.S. grand prize.
While Union and Confederate troops were slaughtering each other at Antietam in