Columbia University announced today that three historians would be awarded the Bancroft Prize for 2006. The prize, among the most prestigious in the field of history, will be presented to:

Erskine Clarke, for Dwelling Place: A Plantation Epic (Yale University Press). Odd Arne Westad, for The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge University Press). Sean Wilentz, for The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln (W.W. Norton).

The award, which carries a $10,000 prize for each winner, will be presented in April. The 2006 prize covers books published in 2005.

Mr. Clarke is a professor of American religious history and director of international programs at the Columbia Theological Seminary, in Decatur, Ga. Mr. Westad is a professor of international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science and head of its Cold War Studies Centre. Mr. Wilentz is a professor of history at Princeton University and director of its American-studies program.

More information on the Bancroft Prize is available on Columbia’s Web site.