Indian-Origin Historian Sunil Amrith Wins 2025 British Academy Book Prize

• Indian-origin historian Sunil Amrith has won the 2025 British Academy Book Prize for his acclaimed work “The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years.” The £25,000 award honours exceptional non-fiction writing in the humanities and social sciences that deepens global understanding through original research.

About the Author:

• Sunil Amrith, 46, is a Professor of History at Yale University . Born in Kenya to South Indian parents and raised in Singapore, he studied at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on environmental, migration, and imperial histories.

About the Book – “The Burning Earth”:

• The book traces five centuries of environmental transformation , linking events such as the colonisation of the Americas , British gold mining in South Africa , and the ecological impacts of global wars . The British Academy praised the work for reframing world history through an ecological and environmental lens , highlighting humanity’s deep connection to planetary change.

Related GK Facts:

• The British Academy Book Prize was established in 2013 to honour excellence in humanities and social sciences writing.

• Past winners include Patrick Wright and Kapka Kassabova .

• Sunil Amrith previously received the MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant) in 2017.

• The Burning Earth examines 500 years of environmental change shaped by empire, economy, and ecology .

Other Shortlisted Authors (2025):

• William Dalrymple ( The Golden Road ), Lucy Ash ( The Baton and The Cross ), Bronwen Everill ( Africonomics ), Sophie Harman ( Sick of It ), and Graeme Lawson ( Sound Tracks ).