William G. Thomas III's book "A Question of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation's Founding to the Civil War" has been shortlisted for the Mark Lynton History Prize, an annual award honoring excellence in nonfiction writing given by the Columbia Journalism School and the Nieman Foundation.
Thomas is John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities and a professor in the Department of History and Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Education in the College of Arts and Sciences. His book was published by Yale University Press in November.
The prize is awarded to the book-length work of narrative history, on any subject, that best combines intellectual distinction with felicity of expression.
