Book award for Jacobs professor Marc Frey

Marc Frey, Helmut Schmidt Professor of International History at Jacobs University, was awarded with the gold medal in the competition „Das Historische Buch 2007“ (The History Book 2007) of the historians’ association „Humanities. Social and Cultural History“. Frey received the award for his book Dekolonisierung in Südostasien. Die Vereinigten Staaten und die Auflösung der europäischen Kolonialreiche (Decolonization of South-East Asia. The United States and the disintegration of the European Colonial Empires), which was published in the Oldenbourg publishing house in 2006.

[ Aug 03, 2007]  This year’s international jury with about 70 members chose Marc Frey’s book from 39 nominations of the category “extra-European History”. „Frey’s book is exemplary for a perspective of extra-European History, which develops its findings and arguments from an explicit global point of view. Hopefully it will inspire many other studies in this way,“ says Jürgen Martschukat, expert in American Historyc of the University of Erfurt, about the publication. With about 15.000 registered members "Humanities. Social and Cultural History", which is based at Berlin Humboldt University, is Germany’s most important information and communication network for professional historians. The „History Book of the Year“ has been recognized by the association with awards in about 10 categories since 2002.

The Historian Marc Frey, who has been working at Jacobs University since August 2006, focuses his book on the US American politics of the 1930s to the 1960s in relation to the decolonization and emergence of independent states in Africa and Asia, covering all main angles of foreign policy: political and cultural diplomacy, development policy, and secret service operations. His research demonstrates that the implicit American claim of world leadership and imperialism develops parallel to the dissolution of the former European colonial empires as a consequence of the arising Cold War, so that the newly liberated ex-colonies largely and strongly remain under western influence of power.