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BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction
Christchurch City Libraries lists literary prize winners and links to catalogue searches, but we may not hold copies of all titles mentioned.
The BBC Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction aims to reward the best of non-fiction, from biography, travel and popular science to the arts and current affairs. The Samuel Johnson is the UK's richest prize for non-fiction and was set up in 1999. The winner receives £20,000. The prize is open to any non-fiction book as long as it is published in English and in the UK.
2009
Leviathan, or The Whale Winner- Philip Hoare
- Lords of Finance
- Liaquat Ahamed
- Bad science
- Ben Goldacre
- The Lost City of Z
- David Grann
- The age of wonder: How the Romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science
- Richard Holmes
- Quantum: Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality
- Manjit Kumar
2008
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher- Kate Summerscale
- Blood river: A Journey to Africa's broken heart
- Tim Butcher
- Crow Country
- Mark Cocker
- The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia
- Orlando Figes
- The World is what it is: The Authorized biography of V S Naipaul
- Patrick French
- The Rest is noise: Listening to the 20th century
- Alex Ross
2007
- Imperial Life in the Emerald City Winner
- Rajiv Chandrasekaran
- Murder in Amsterdam
- Ian Buruma
- Having it so Good: Britain in the Fifties
- Peter Hennessy
- Daughter of the Desert
- Georgina Howell
- Brainwash
- Dominic Streatfeild
- The Verneys
- Adrian Tinniswood
2006
- 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare Winner
- James Shapiro
- Untold Stories
- Alan Bennett
- The Sale of the Late King's Goods
- Jerry Brotton
- Bad Faith
- Carmen Callil
- Postwar
- Tony Judt
- The Orientalist
- Tom Reiss
2005
- Like a Fiery Elephant: The Life of B S Johnson Jonathan Coe Winner
- Stuart: A Life backwards Alexander Masters
- Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found Suketu Mehta
- Istanbul: Memories of a city Orhan Pamuk
- Matisse the Master Hilary Spurling
- The Italian Boy: Murder and Grave Robbery in 1830s London Sarah Wise
2004
- Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall Anna Funder Winner
- Gulag: A History of the Soviet Camps Anne Applebaum
- John Clare: A Biography Jonathon Bate
- A Short History of Nearly Everything Bill Bryson
- The Zanzibar Chest: A Memoir of Love and War Aidan Hartley
- Rubicon: The Triumph and Tragedy of the Roman Republic Tom Holland
2003
- Pushkin T. J. Binyon Winner
- Natasha's Dance: a cultural history of Russia Orlando Figes
- The Devil that danced on the water: a daughter's memoir of her father, her family, her country and a continent Aminatta Forna
- Dr Tatiana's sex advice to all creation Olivia Judson
- Samuel Pepys: the unequalled self Claire Tomalin
- Nelson: Love and fame Edgar Vincent
2002
- Peacemakers: The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and its attempt to end war Margaret Macmillan Winner
- The Voices of Morebath Eamon Duffy
- The Snow geese William Fiennes
- The Invention of clouds: how an amateur meteorologist forged the language of the skies Richard Hamblyn
- Churchill: a biography Roy Jenkins
- Unfinest hour: Britain and the destruction of Bosnia Brendan Simms
2001
- The Third Reich Michael Burleigh Winner
- Trilobite! Eyewitness to evolution Richard Fortey
- Night of stone Catherine Merridale
- Rimbaud Graham Robb
- Prince of princes: The Life of Potemkin Simon Sebag Montefiore
- John Maynard Keynes Robert Skidelsky
2000
- Berlioz: volume 2 David Cairns Winner
- Playing the Moldovans at tennis Tony Hawks
- Yeats's ghosts Brenda Maddox
- Genome Matt Ridley
- Deliver us from evil William Shawcross
- Karl Marx Francis Wheen
1999
- Stalingrad Antony Beevor Winner
- Hitler Ian Kershaw
- Pilate Ann Wroe
- C: Because cowards get cancer too John Diamond
- Coleridge: Darker reflections Richard Holmes
- Wealth and poverty of nations David Landes
