Seven Finalists for the Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prizes

Seven women faculty members at U.S. colleges and universities have been identified as finalists for the 2012 Berkshire Conference of Women Historians Book Prizes.

The Berkshire Conference of Women Historians was founded in 1930 by a group of about 20 historians from the faculties of the women’s colleges in New England and New York who believed they were being largely ignored in a male-dominated field. The group which has expanded to include members from across the nation meets informally at least once a year. And every three years the Berkshire Conference on the History of Women is held. Each year, the group gives out awards for the best first books and best articles written by women who reside in North America.

This year there are seven finalists for two awards, one for the best first book on any historical topic and one for the best first book dealing with the history of women, gender, and/or sexuality.

(L to R) Natalie Ring, Lisa Cohen, Francoise Hamlin, Adria Imada, Lien-Hang Nguyen, and Sophie White

The finalists are:

Natalie Ring is an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at Dallas. She was nominated for her book, The Problem South: Region, Empire and the New Liberal State, 1880-1930 (University of Georgia Press). Dr. Ring is a graduate of Amherst College and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of California at San Diego.
Lisa Cohen is an assistant professor of English at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. She is the author of All We Know: Three Lives (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux). The book is a triple biography of Esther Murphy, Mercedes de Acosta and Madge Garland. Dr. Cohen is a graduate of Brown University and holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from Yale University.
Francoise Hamlin is the author of Crossroads at Clarksdale: The Black Freedom Struggle in the Mississippi Delta After World War II (University of North Carolina Press) Dr. Hamlin is an assistant professor of history and Africana studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. She previously taught at the University of Massachusetts. Professor Hamlin holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.
Adria Imada is an associate professor of ethnic studies at the University of California at San Diego. She was nominated for her book, Aloha America: Hula Circuits Through the U.S. Empire (Duke University Press). Dr. Imada is a graduate of Yale University and holds a Ph.D. in American studies from New York University.
Gretchen Heefner is the author of The Missile Next Door: The Minuteman in the American Heartland (Harvard University Press). For this book she interviewed dozens of people who lived on farms and other property where the U.S. government built nuclear missile silos. Dr. Heefner is a visiting assistant professor of history at Connecticut College.
Lien-Hang Nguyen is an associate professor of history at the University of Kentucky. She was nominated for her book, Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam (University of North Carolina Press). Dr. Nguyen is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.
Sophie White was nominated for her book, Wild Frenchmen and Frenchified Indians: Material Culture and Race in Colonial Louisiana (University of Pennsylvania Press). Dr. White is an associate professor of American studies at the University of Notre Dame. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Edinburgh and a second master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of London.

Update: Adria Imada won the award for the best first book by a woman in the field of women’s, gender, and/or sexuality history for Aloha America and Francoise Hamlin won the award for the best first book in any field of history for Crossroads at Clarksdale.