Will Recognize Books on Latin American and Caribbean History

The American Historical Association is pleased to announce the Friedrich Katz Book Prize in Latin American and Caribbean History, which honors Professor Katz's contributions to the field during his more than 50-­year career at Humboldt University, the University of Texas at Austin, and, for over 30 years, at the University of Chicago. The Katz Prize will replace the John E. Fagg Prize, which received a large volume of submissions but had only a 10-­year bequest.

Beloved by the many students and colleagues he assisted over his long career, Friedrich Katz, an Austrian-­born historian of Latin America, began his interest in the field when he and his family took refuge in Mexico during the Second World War. Katz received many awards for his scholarship, including the AHA's Albert J. Beveridge Prize for The Life and Times of Pancho Villa (Stanford Univ. Press, 1998). While his work focused mainly on Mexico, his archival research spanned three continents, and his writing illuminated the international and comparative dimensions of Mexican history.

Beginning in 2014, the Friedrich Katz Book Prize in Latin American and Caribbean History will be awarded to the most distinguished book published in each calendar year on the history of Latin America and the Caribbean. Any book published in English on the history of Latin America and the Caribbean will be eligible, except for edited volumes and anthologies. Eligibility will be defined broadly to include books on any period or field and those that integrate Latin America and the Caribbean within broader global issues and movements. The inaugural prize will be awarded at the AHA's annual meeting in New York in January 2015, as part of the Association's awards ceremony.

The AHA is especially grateful to Jana Katz for her generous contributions to the Katz Prize Fund and to El Colegio de Mexico and the Tinker Foundation, Inc., for their lead gifts. We also appreciate the exceptional fundraising work of the Friedrich Katz Prize Fund Committee, led by co-­chairs John Coatsworth and Barbara Weinstein. The committee's efforts and the resulting donations from dozens of supporters have established an endowment for the Katz Prize, which will mark the stature of the field of Latin American and Caribbean history for years to come.

As of September 25, 2013, the Friedrich Katz Prize has received generous support from:

$5000 and above

• El Colegio de Mexic
• Jana and Friedrich Katz
• Tinker Foundation, Inc.

$1,000 to $4,999

• Kevin J. Middlebrook
• William H. Sewell
• Claudio Lomnitz
• John H. Coatsworth
• Robin Derby
• Javier Garciadiego
• Chris McNickle
• Steve J. Stern
• Mary Kay Vaughan

$100 to $999

• Christopher R. Boyer
• Evelyn Hu-­DeHart
• Barbara Weinstein
• Emilio Kouri
• Gilbert M. Joseph
• Michel Gobat
• Laura E. S. Gotkowitz
• Mauricio Tenorio
• Jan E. Goldstein
• Paul E. Gootenberg
• James R. Grossman
• James M. Krippner
• Jocelyn H. Olcott

Up to $99

• Armando Cantu Alonzo
• Nancy P. Appelbaum
• Devyn Spence Benson
• Christopher Campbell
• Bridget M. Chesterton
• Margaret Chowning
• Sarah Cline
• Deborah Cohen
• Oscar De la Torre
• Karen B. Graubart
• Gregory S. Hammond
• Paul Lokken
• Laura Virginia Melkonian
• Moishe Morris Postone
• Reinaldo L. Roman
• Uri Rosenheck
• Joshua Savala
• Eric Michael Schantz
• Tatiana Seijas
• Douglas O. Sofer
• Antonio Sotomayor
• Shigeru Sugiyama
• Eric J. Van Young
• Richard A. Warren
• David Woken