Congratulations to Professor Eric Jennings, whose book Escape from Vichy: The Refugee Exodus to the French Caribbean (Harvard University Press, 2018) was awarded the Gilbert Chinard Prize for 2019. The Prize is awarded annually by the Society for French Historical Studies for the best book published by a North American Press on the history of French-American relations, or the comparative history of France and North, Central, or South America.
This year’s jury praised Escape from Vichy for its new insights into social history, as well as state power during WWII, and its “timely reflections for contemporary concerns about refugees, border controls, and racial and cultural identity.”
Professor Jennings is the third member of the Department of History to win the award, after Professor Allan Greer in 2005 and Professor William Eccles in 1973.