Trinity Provost Margaret MacMillan has won the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. The award was presented for her book Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World.
“I knew about it beforehand and I thought I was prepared for it,” said MacMillan. “I was very touched. I thought, I don’t believe that I’m on the list with these people.”
This is not the first prize for MacMillan. Her book has also gathered such awards as the BBC- sponsored Samuel Johnson Prize and the Duff Cooper Award. Despite this, the Provost doesn’t see the Governor General’s Award as just another notch on her belt. “I’m Canadian, so it’s really nice to win a Canadian prize.”
Rejected by Canadian publishers, MacMillan turned to Britain to get her work printed. She admits that not only was she an unknown, but a 600-page history text is a hard sell. She insists, though, that her work is not akin to the “dry and deliberately complicated” writing of most history academics. “I tried to write clearly in an interesting way and I tried to made it lively,” said MacMillan. “I think history is something everyone should enjoy.”
Paris 1919: Six Months that Changed the World focuses on the peace talks at Versailles following the close of World War I. MacMillan claims that the Treaty of Versailles did not cause World War II. She argues instead that the conflict was fuelled by factors greater than the terms laid out by the treaty, such as the rise of radical leaders.
MacMillan’s interest in historical personalities drove her to pursue the topic. “There were many interesting people there [at the conference in Versailles], it was a time when the major leaders were sitting together for six months.” Her subject for her next book was chosen according to the same fascination. She will be discussing past U.S. president Richard Nixon’s visit to China.
MacMillan is also the author of Women of the Raj. She was the co-editor of the Canadian periodical International Journal and currently sits on committees of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs and the Atlantic Council of Canada.
The award was presented on Nov. 12 by Governor General Adrienne Clarkson. Both Clarkson and MacMillan are graduates of Trinity College at U of T. Previous winners of the award include such Canadian literary greats as Stephen Leacock, Alice Munro and Hugh MacLennan.
