The Elizabeth Longford Prize for Historical Biography for 2023 was awarded to Ramachandra Guha on Monday for his book Rebels Against the Raj: Western Fighters for India's Freedom. He got £5,000 and a bound copy of Elizabeth Longford's book about her life, The Pebbled Shore. This year's committee was led by Roy Foster, and Antonia Fraser, Flora Fraser, Richard Davenport-Hines, and Rana Mitter were also on it.
Foster said, "The author's deep care for his subject and impressive knowledge of it show how much he cares about them." The book tells the stories of seven people from Britain, the United States, and Ireland who joined India's fight for freedom and went their own ways as a result. Guha gives a new perspective on the Mahatma's life by looking at how everyone's contacts with him were centred on him. Rebels Against the Raj shows how a close look at the lives of real people can help us understand how people felt at the time.
Along with that, he added, "As Guha says, oppression doesn't end with the end of colonial rule, and the ideas and priorities that are so clearly laid out in this book need to be looked at right away in India today."
To honour the life of British historian Elizabeth Longford, Flora Fraser and Peter Soros established the prize in 2003. It is awarded to a biography that is thorough in its research and compelling to read. Longford passed away in 2002.
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