3 American authors vie for $75,000 history prize

LONDON (AP) - Three American historians are finalists for a $75,000 history book prize with books about Laura Ingalls Wilder, Joseph Conrad and the intersection of colonialism and climate change.

Finalists announced Wednesday for the Cundill History Prize are "Prairie Fires," Caroline Fraser's Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of the "Little House on the Prairie" author; Maya Jasanoff's look at the world that made Conrad, "The Dawn Watch"; and Sam White's "A Cold Welcome," which explores the impact of the "Little Ice Age" on European settlement of North America.

Historian Martin Gilbert, who chaired the judging panel, said the finalists were all "irresistible reads ... that move the genre of history writing forward."

The winner of the prize, open to all English-language history books and run by Montreal's McGill University, will be announced Nov. 15.