The Gerald Strauss Book Prize is named in honor of Gerald Strauss, the influential scholar of the German Reformation and long-time Distinguished Professor of History at Indiana University. Author of eight books, including such well-known titles as Nuremberg in the Sixteenth Century (1966), Luther's House of Learning (1978), and Law, Resistance, and the State (1986), Strauss was a meticulous researcher. His works were pioneering and sometimes controversial, but they continue to engage scholars and students of the German Reformation.
This prize, which is awarded at the annual meeting of the SCSC, recognizes the best book published in English during the preceding year in the field of German Reformation history.
Criteria for selection shall include:
quality and originality of research
methodological skill and/or innovation
development of fresh and stimulating interpretations or insights
literary quality