World War II historian Carlo D’Este has won the 2011 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing. At the library’s Liberty Gala on October 22, the historian will receive a $100,000 honorarium, citation and medallion.
Most recently, D’Este has written three biographies: Patton: A Genius for War (1995); Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life, 1890-1945 (2002); and Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945 (2008). The annual prize celebrates “a body of work that has profoundly enriched the public understanding of American military history.”
Library founder Colonel (IL) J.N. Pritzker had this statement: “D’Este has made a tremendous collective contribution to the literary community at large … He has spent as much time in the field, with his boots on the ground, as he has seeing to it that scholars of the next generation are carefully mentored while progressing along their own paths. It’s clear that Carlo’s literary legacy is deeply rooted in all the areas that embody the foundation of this esteemed award, most especially that of increasing the understanding of military history and the role of the Citizen Soldier.”