Five of the six books on this year’s shortlist for the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction are by women. Caroline Elkins’ Legacy of Violence: A History of the British Empire; Sally Hayden’s My Fourth Time, We Drowned; Anna Keay’s The Restless Republic: Britain Without a Crown; Polly Morland’s A Fortunate Woman: A Country Doctor’s Story, and Katherine Rundell’s Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne take up all but one of the places.
Legacy of Violence by Caroline Elkins (Vintage)
The Escape Artist by Jonathan Freedland (John Murray)
My Fourth Time, We Drowned by Sally Hayden (4th Estate)
The Restless Republic by Anna Keay (William Collins)
A Fortunate Woman by Polly Morland (Picador)
Super-Infinite by Katherine Rundell (Faber)
The sixth book vying for the £50,000 first prize is Jonathan Freedland’s The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World.
Chair of judges Caroline Sanderson said the books were “marvellously wide-ranging in terms of setting, era, and the creative approaches on display” and “however different the canvas, all have enthralling human stories at their heart”.
The shortlist for the prize, which recognises the best nonfiction of the year, was chosen from a longlist of 12, which was selected from 362 books.
Joining Sanderson on the judging panel were writer and science journalist Laura Spinney; critic and writer for The Observer, Rachel Cooke; BBC journalist and presenter, Clive Myrie; author and New Yorker writer, Samanth Subramanian and critic and broadcaster, Georgina Godwin.
Elkins’ Legacy of Violence is a look at the empire’s use of violence, and was described by the judges as “one of those books that feels inarguable”. They called it an “astonishing panorama of the British empire in the 20th century, it is fascinating and mind-changing”.
Freedland’s The Escape Artist tells the story of Rudolf Vrba, who along with fellow inmate Alfred Wetzler, were the first ever Jews to break out of Auschwitz. Freedland, said the judges, “brings his skill as a thriller writer [under the pseudonym Sam Bourne] and his expertise as a journalist together in this compelling story”. The panel added that it was a “sublime page turning exposition of an extraordinary story, and an urgent reminder about the power of information”.
Hayden makes the list with her first book, My Fourth Time, We Drowned, which investigates the migrant crisis across north Africa and into Europe through the experience and testimony of refugees. The judges said it was “an exceptional, extraordinarily powerful work of reportage”. They praised “Hayden’s dogged determination to foreground the stories of those who brave the world’s deadliest migration route across the Mediterranean from Libya” and said it was “nothing short of heroic”.
Keay’s The Restless Republic is about the decade in the 1600s after King Charles I was executed for treason, the English monarchy abolished and the House of Lords discarded. “Wonderful characters and great writing bring to life the 11 years of Cromwell’s commonwealth, through the lives of ordinary people,” said the judging panel.
Morland’s A Fortunate Woman is about the author’s discovery of the book A Fortunate Man by Booker prize winner John Berger, and was described by the judges as a “work of breathtaking intimacy”.
“To read Polly Morland as she thinks on the page is a real privilege,” added the panel.
Super-Infinite by Rundell is a look at the myriad lives of the poet John Donne, and “brings the poet to life for the fan of his works, and it makes the person who has yet to discover them want to,” said the judges.
Last year’s winner was Patrick Radden Keefe for Empire of Pain, an investigation of the Sackler family and its role in the opioid crisis.
The winner of the prize will be announced on 17 November at the Science Museum in London.
To explore all the books on the Baillie Gifford prize 2022 shortlist visit guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.
