The Arthur Miller Institute for American Studies is pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Miller Prizes.
Arthur Miller First Book Prize
Winner: Erin Pearson, Grievous Entanglement: Consumption, Connection, and Slavery in the Atlantic World聽(University of Virginia Press, 2025)
The panel commented: Blending insights and methods from literature, history and cultural studies, Grievous Entanglements is a remarkable work of American Studies which brings new insights to well-trodden topics 鈥� from abolitionism to blackface minstrelsy. The new insights may well shape the way that we teach this period of history, particularly slave narratives. Between its rigorous research, creation of a new methodological approach, and the connections it draws between multiple different fields of study, it offers a new and important insight while also written in clear and engaging prose. At a time when global boycotts bring up scores of ethical, moral and strategic issues, Grievous Entanglements illuminates how consumers and deliberate forms of consumption can become effective tools for positive change in the world.
Arthur Miller Article Prize
Winner: Sian Round, “Lillian Smith鈥� s Strange Fruit and Periodical Readerships”, Journal of American Studies, April 2025
The panel commented: Round鈥檚 article demonstrates a new approach to thinking about Smith鈥檚 novel through the lens of understudied other writings.聽 The study of the magazine South Today聽and its role in shaping ideas and beliefs offers a different angle on the work of white Southern civil rights supporters, placing Smith鈥檚 novel in a new and revealing light. The panel were especially impressed with the depth of engagement with the primary sources and the witty, clear, and engaging writing.
Honourable Mention: Isobel Bloom, 鈥淎 Position Which My Gayness Itself Leads Me to Take鈥�: Sexual-Minority Antiabortion Activists, Journal of American Studies, Jan. 2025
