History professor earns Albert B. Corey Prize

Faculty of Arts and Science Professor Donald Akenson has earned the Albert B. Corey Prize, awarded every second year for the best book on Canadian-American relations or on the history of both countries.

The prize was approved in 1963 by the Councils of the American Historical Association (AHA) and the Canadian Historical Association (CHA) and formally ratified in 1966, after funding for the prize was secured.

Dr. Akenson (History) earned the honour for his book The Americanization of the Apocalypse: Creating America’s Own Bible. He examines the migration of individuals and religious ideas from Britain and Ireland to Canada and the United States, while also paying attention to the significance of topography and geography in the creation of networks which fostered the spread and popular impact of evangelical and apocalyptic Christian ideas.  

“The Albert B. Corey Prize is unusual,” Dr. Akenson explains. “While most history awards are given annually and are awarded by specialized societies or for a narrow range of topics, the Corey is given jointly by two national historical societies biennially. “It originally was for the diplomatic history of the US and Canada, and then it moved to a more capacious framework: for the best book on the history of both countries.”

Dr. Akenson explains his book deals with one of the main conduits for the creation of present-day White Christian Nationalism (WCN) in the United States. Its main argument is that the template was set well before the First World War. Further, he suggests the ideo-religious core of the WCN belief system did not arise spontaneously in the United. Rather, it was the product of a very tightly documented theology that was created in early nineteenth century Ireland, and then passed through Canada, before finally being assimilated into American populist fundamentalism. Its embodiment was the go-to Bible of 20th century American evangelicals, the Scofield Reference Bible, which effectively rewrote the Christian scriptures, while pretending merely to comment on them.

“A fair question is, ‘why should I spend more than a dozen years of my life on a topic that, though it has its fascinating moments, is ultimately dispiriting?’ Because that is one of the things that university historians are paid to do: help our democracy to understand the roots of some of our problems and thus assist our society to move efficiently and humanely in dealing with them.”

Learn more about the award on the CHA website.