Annal:2004 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography
From AwardAnnals
Results of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in the year 2004. For a ranked list of books, try an honor roll:
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography
- Nonfiction books
- Nonfiction authors
- Biography books
- Biography authors.
John Clare: A Biography
- 2004 JT Black-Biography winner
- Score: 10.54
John Clare (1793-1864) is the greatest labouring-class poet that England has ever produced. No one has ever written more powerfully of nature, of a rural childhood, and of the alienated and unstable self, but until now he has never been the subject of a comprehensive literary biography.
Here at last is his full story told by the light of his voluminous work: his birth in poverty, his work as an agricultural labourer, his burgeoning promise as a writer—cultivated under the gaze of rival patrons—then his moment of fame in the company of John Keats and the toast…
Eichmann: His Life and Crimes
- 2004 JT Black-Biography shortlist
- Score: 6.54
The biography of Eichmann—the crucial untold story of the architect of the Nazi “Final Solution”—and the mass murder of six million Jews.
Like A Fiery Elephant: The Story Of B. S. Johnson
- 2005 NBCC–Biography finalist
- 2004 JT Black-Biography shortlist
- Score: 12.55
The most critically acclaimed literary biography published in the UK in 2004, Like a Fiery Elephant tells the story of B.S. Johnson, one of Britain’s most innovative, passionate, and controversial writers of the 1960s and 70s. Johnson was an unflinching advocate for the avant-garde in both literature and film, and held strong (some would say extreme) views on the future of the novel. Working firmly in the tradition of Joyce and Beckett—the latter of whom became a friend and mentor of sorts to Johnson—he tormented his agents, editors, and publishers with…
A Life Of H. L. A. Hart: The Nightmare And The Noble Dream
- 2004 JT Black-Biography shortlist
- Score: 6.54
Herbert Lionel Adolphus Hart was born in Yorkshire in 1907 to second-generation Jewish immigrants. Having won a scholarship to Oxford University, he later became the most famous legal philosopher of the twentieth century.
From 1932-40 Hart practised as a barrister in London. He was pronounced physically unfit for military service in 1940, and recruited by MI5, where he worked until 1945. Whilst at the Bar he continued to study philosophy and at MI5 his interest was further stimulated by his philosopher colleagues in MI6, Stuart Hampshire and Gilbert Ryle.…
Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 1758-1797
- 2004 JT Black-Biography shortlist
- Score: 6.54
Among military and naval commanders, Horatio Nelson stands as one of the finest examples of inspirational leadership. The historian John Sugden charts the period of Nelson’s career neglected by earlier writers-from childhood to his breathtaking victory against the Spanish fleet at Cape St. Vincent when he became an admiral, lost an arm, and won international fame. Like Alexander of Macedon, Nelson led from the front (not always a sensible custom). But he was a natural leader and a genuine hero, and his actions invariably raised his stock with his men, who trusted…
Malinowski: Odyssey of an Anthropologist, 1884-1920
- 2004 JT Black-Biography shortlist
- Score: 6.54
Bronislaw Malinowski (1884–1942) was one of the most colorful and charismatic social scientists of the twentieth century. His contributions as a founding father of social anthropology and his complex personality earned him international notoriety and near-mythical status. This landmark book presents a vivid portrait of Malinowski’s early life, from his birth in Cracow to his departure in 1920 from the Trobriand Islands of the South Pacific. At the age of 36, he had already created the innovative fieldwork methods and techniques that would secure his intellectual…
