The Myrna F. Bernath awards were originally established by the Bernath family and SHAFR Council in 1990 to promote scholarship in U.S. foreign relations history by women. The award committee now invites applications from women, nonbinary, and/or trans scholars. The Myrna Bernath Book Award of $2,500 is awarded biannually (even years) to the author of the best book written by a woman, non-binary, and/or trans scholar in the field and published during the preceding two calendar years.
Eligibility
Nominees should be women, non-binary, and/or trans scholars who have published distinguished books in U.S. foreign relations, transnational history, international history, peace studies, cultural interchange, and defense or strategic studies. Membership in SHAFR is required.
Procedures
Books may be nominated by the author, the publisher, or any member of SHAFR. Books will be judged primarily in regard to their contribution to scholarship. Three copies of the book (or page proofs) and a letter of nomination should be submitted. The award is presented during the SHAFR annual conference.
Submission Procedures
To nominate a book published in 2026–2027 for the 2028 prize, please follow the submission guidelines outlined below.
Required Materials
Please provide: (1) Three structural copies of the book (or page proofs) (2) A formal letter of nomination
Submission Destination
Email the nomination letter to all three committee members below, and send a physical copy of the book to each of their addresses.
Deadline
To be considered for the 2028 award, all required materials must be received by February 1, 2028.
Mailing Destinations for Award Committee Members
Megan BlackMIT History Department 70 Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02142
Ryan IrwinDepartment of History, University at Albany 1400 Washington Avenue, Social Science 060N Albany, NY 12222
Uta BalbierSt Anne’s College 56 Woodstock Rd. Oxford OX2 6HS United Kingdom
2026Elizabeth O’Brien InglesonMade in China: When US-China Interests Converged to Transform Global Trade
2024Alvita AkibohImperial Material: National Symbols in the US Colonial Empire
2022Joanne MeyerowitzA Global War on Poverty: The Lost Promise of Redistribution and the Rise of Microcredit
2020Lucy SalyerUnder the Starry Flag: How a Band of Irish Americans Joined the Fenian Revolt and Sparked a Crisis over Citizenship
The 2010s
2018Rebecca Tinio McKennaAmerican Imperial Pastoral: The Architecture of US Colonialism in the Philippines
2016April MerleauxSugar and Civilization: American Empire and the Cultural Politics of Sweetness
2014Amy GreenbergA Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico
2012Sarah SnyderHuman Rights Activism and the End of the Cold War: A Transnational History of the Helsinki Network
2010Michaela Hoenicke MooreKnow Your Enemy: The American Debate on Nazism, 1933–1945
The 2000s
2008Barbara KeysGlobalizing Sport: National Rivalry and International Community in the 1930s
2006Victoria de GraziaIrresistible Empire: America's Advance through Twentieth-Century Europe
2004Carol AndersonEyes off the Prize: The United Nations and the African American Struggle for Human Rights, 1944–1955
2002Linda McFarlandCold War Strategist: Stuart Symington and the Search for National Security
2000Jessica Gienow-HechtTransmission Impossible: American Journalism as Cultural Diplomacy in Postwar Germany, 1945–1955 Cecelia LynchBeyond Appeasement: Interpreting Interwar Peace Movements in World Politics
The 1990s
1998Brenda Gayle PlummerRising Wind: Black Americans and U.S. Foreign Affairs, 1935–1960
1996Nancy Bernkopf TuckerTaiwan, Hong Kong, and The United States, 1945–1992: Uncertain Friendships
1991Diane Kunz and Betty UnterbergerThe Economic Diplomacy of the Suez Crisis Betty UnterbergerThe United States, Revolutionary Russia, and the Rise of Czechoslovakia
