About This Award
The Gerald Strauss Book Prize is named in honor of Gerald
Strauss, the influential scholar of the German Reformation
and long-time Distinguished Professor of History at Indiana
University. Author of eight books, including such well-known
titles as Nuremberg in the Sixteenth Century (1966), Luther’s
House of Learning (1978), and Law, Resistance, and
the State (1986), Strauss was a meticulous researcher. His works were
pioneering and sometimes controversial, but they continue
to engage scholars and students of the German Reformation.
This prize, which is awarded at the annual meeting of the
SCSC, recognizes the best book published in English during
the preceding year in the field of German Reformation history.
Criteria for selection shall include:
1) quality and originality
of research
2) methodological skill and/or innovation
3) development of fresh and stimulating interpretations
or insights
4) literary quality
Nominations for the prize may be made by anyone. Either
the publisher or the author shall send three bound copies
of the book to the Prize Coordinator of
the SCSC no later than April 1st who in turn will send books to each member
of the Strauss prize committee. The books to be considered for the prize
will be those books published within the preceding calendar
year. The recipient
receives a prize of $1000 and a certificate.
Previous Winners
