Вручение 2003 г.
Страна: США
Дата проведения: 2003 г.
Премия в области американской исторической художественной литературы
Лауреат
Robert J. Begiebing
0.0
Hailed by Annie Proulx in the New York Times as a gifted writer with an extraordinary feeling for the past, Robert J. Begiebing now completes his trilogy of American historical novels that also includes The Strange Death of Mistress Coffin and The Adventures of Allegra Fullerton.
Daniel Sanborn, trained in the academies of London, arrives in colonial Portsmouth, New Hampshire to establish himself as a portraitist. His very first commission, however--to paint the adopted daughter of a prominent local family--will challenge his most cherished beliefs about art and life. Mysterious and solemn, twelve-year-old Rebecca Wentworth reveals herself to be an artistic prodigy of incandescent genius, and the victim of bizarre, disturbing visions. Her family, confused and frightened by the girl's uncanny talent and strange paintings, has decided to send her away for her own protection. Sanborn, however, becomes fascinated by Rebecca and her gifts.
Confident, accomplished, and reassuringly conventional, Sanborn succeeds over time in establishing himself as painter to Portsmouth's elite. But even as he cultivates his position as artistic entrepreneur--investing in land, furthering his business connections--he also conspires with Rebecca's former governess to learn where the girl has been sent. Gradually yielding to his growing obsession, Sanborn tracks Rebecca to a frontier village in the interior of New Hampshire. His interference precipitates a family crisis concerning her ultimate fate, and Sanborn is made the agent for presenting Rebecca, now seventeen, with a stark and unappealing choice.
The liberating potential of artistic expression clashes cruelly with social convention in a tale that masterfully evokes colonial New England.
Премия в области американской юридической истории или биографии
Лауреат
Robert J. Cottrol, Raymond T. Diamond, Leland B. Ware
0.0
Before 1954, both law and custom mandated strict racial segregation throughout much of the nation. That began to change with "Brown v. Board of Education, the landmark decision that overturned the pernicious "separate but equal" doctrine. In declaring that legally mandated school segregation was unconstitutional, the Supreme Court Played a critical role in helping to dismantle America's own version of apartheid, Jim Crow. This new study of "Brown--the title for a group of cases drawn from Kansas, Virginia, South Carolina, Delaware, and the District of Columbia--offers an insightful and original overview designed expressly for students and general readers. It is concise, up-to-date, highly readable, and very teachable. The authors, all recognized authorities on legal history and civil rights law, do an admirable job of examining the fight for legal equality in its broad cultural and historical context. They convincingly show that "Brown cannot be understood apart from the history of caste and exclusion in American society. That history antedated the very founding of the country and was supported by the nation's highest institutions, including the Supreme Court whose decision in "Plessy v. Frequson (1896) supported the notion of "separate but equal." Their book traces the lengthy court litigations, highlighting the pivotal role of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and including incisive portraits of key players, including co-plaintiff Oliver Brown, newly appointed Chief Justice Earl Warren, NAACP lawyer and future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, and Justice Felix Frankfurter, who recognized the crucial importance of a unanimous court decision andhelped produce it. The authors simply but powerfully narrate their story and show that "Brown not only changed the national equation of race and caste--it also changed our view of the Court's role in American life. As we prepare to commemorate the decision's fiftieth anniversary in May 2004, this book invites readers to appreciate the lasting importance of what was indisputably a landmark case.
