History Professor’s Book Finalist for National Prize

February 25, 2016

Jonathan M. Bryant’s, Ph.D., Dark Places of the Earth: The Voyage of the Slave Ship Antelope, is a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in History.

The Los Angeles Times has honored the previous year’s best books and authors since 1980 with a ceremony, this year’s ceremony – the 36th annual – will be held at the Bovard Auditorium on the USC campus.

Other finalists for the award include Mary Beard’s SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome, Dan Ephron’s Killing a King: The Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and the Remaking of Israel, David Maraniss’ Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story, and Mark Molesky’s This Gulf of Fire: The Destruction of Lisbon, or Apocalypse in the Age of Science and Reason.

Bryant’s book covers the case of the slave ship Antelope, her commandeering by a privateer and ensuing legal trial that reached the United States Supreme Court in 1825.

“Bryant presents a broadened picture of the transatlantic slave trade while illuminating a legal battle with huge moral implications,” said Barbara Hoffert of the Library Journal.

The book is the fifth for Bryant, a Professor in the Department of History, who specializes in the history of American law, slavery, and emancipation.

The College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences (CLASS) is the largest of the eight colleges that make up Georgia Southern University, and it plays a central role in every student’s core of knowledge. CLASS, also described as the University’s College of the Creative Mind, prepares students to achieve academic excellence, develop their analytical skills, enhance their creativity and embrace their responsibilities as citizens of their communities, their nations and the world. CLASS offers more than 20 undergraduate degrees and several interdisciplinary minors from its 11 departments and five academic centers. CLASS offers eight master’s degrees, two graduate certificates and one doctoral degree. For more information, visit cah.georgiasouthern.edu.

Georgia Southern University, a public Carnegie Doctoral/Research University founded in 1906, offers more than 125 degree programs serving more than 20,500 students. Through eight colleges, the University offers bachelors, masters and doctoral degree programs built on more than a century of academic achievement. Georgia Southern is recognized for its student-centered and hands-on approach to education. GeorgiaSouthern.edu.