University of Richmond history professor's book wins Virginia "People's Choice" literary award
October 22, 2008
Woody Holton, associate professor of history at the University of Richmond, has won the Virginia People's Choice literary award in the nonfiction category for his book "Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution."
The award is given jointly by the Library of Virginia and James River Writers, a non-profit, Richmond-based writers' organization. Holton was honored at the Library of Virginia Literary Awards Celebration Oct. 18 with a $3,500 cash prize.
One of five finalists, "Unruly Americans" was selected by a panel of independent Virginia booksellers and librarians from the list of books nominated for the library's Literary Awards. Readers determined the winner by voting online and in public libraries for their favorite literary work.
Holton's book previously was a finalist for the National Book Award and the George Washington Book Prize for work that explores the American revolutionary era. Holton describes it as connecting elite political history with the social history of ordinary Americans, offering a fresh perspective on the framers of the Constitution.
"My claim is that it was really the ordinary people, the farmers of the day, who put the founding fathers in a position where the Constitution had to be written—for reasons that were largely financial," says Holton.
Holton recently received a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to support his latest effort, a biography of Abigail Adams. He joined the university's history faculty in 2000 and previously taught at Bloomsburg University in Pennsylvania.