Dr Abigail Green wins Sami Rohr Prize

Dr Abigail Green, Fellow in History at Brasenose College, has won the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature Choice Award, for her biography, Moses Montefiore:  Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero.

The Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature was established in 2007 by the family of Sami Rohr, with the Jewish Book Council, in honor of his lifelong love of Jewish writing.  In conjunction with this award, the Rohr family has established the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute, a forum devoted to the continuity of Jewish literature, which recognizes the important role of emerging writers in examining the Jewish experience.

In Moses Montefiore:  Jewish Liberator, Imperial Hero, Dr Green re-establishes Montefiore's status as a major historical player. Drawing on source material from eleven countries in nine languages, Green's sweeping biography interweaves the public triumph of Montefiore's foreign missions with the private tragedy of his childless marriage, and brings the diversity of nineteenth century Jewry brilliantly to life - from London to Jerusalem, Rome to St. Petersburg, Morocco to Istanbul. Here, we see the origins of Zionism and the rise of international Jewish consciousness; the grand humanitarian campaigns of the Anglo-Saxon world and the faltering birth of international human rights; the shifting relations between Christians, Jews and Muslims; European penetration of Palestine and the making of the modern Middle East.

Published by Harvard University Press, the biography coincides with the 150th anniversary of Montefiore's foundation of modern Jerusalem. It was named a Times Literary Supplement book of 2010, a New Republic best book of 2010 and was also a finalist in the American 2010 National Jewish Book Awards.See here for more information.

The other Sami Rohr prize went to journalist Gal Beckerman. His book, When They Come for Us We'll Be Gone: The Epic Struggle to Save Soviet Jewry, is a comprehensive and enthralling chronicle of the history of the Soviet Jewry movement. 

Read more about History at Brasenose College.

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