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Julian Jackson wins £5k Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize
Julian Jackson has won the £5,000 Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize for France on Trial: The Case of Marshal Pétain, published by Allen Lane.
The book, described by the judges as “asking profound, historical questions about how to act in impossible circumstances”, uses the 1945 trial of Marshal Pétain to explore collusion and its consequences in post-war France.
Jackson is Emeritus Professor of History at Queen Mary University, London. Artemis Cooper, chair of the panel of judges, said Jackson “is one of those rare beasts, a rigorous historian with the skills of a seasoned novelist”.
He added: “As you read, you are inside that hot, febrile courtroom where Marshal Pétain is being tried: grappling with moral dilemmas, and the testimony of Vichy administrators desperate to exonerate themselves. As for the old man on trial, is he a hero, a traitor, or both? Who needs a thriller when real events make such compelling reading?”
The Pol Roger Duff Cooper Prize celebrates the best in non-fiction writing. The first award was made in 1956, and it has been given annually ever since. The winner receives £5,000, a magnum of Pol Roger champagne and a copy of Old Men Forget, Duff Cooper’s autobiography.
