University of Central Arkansas history professor, Vaughn Scribner, received the Society of the Cincinnati Prize. 

Scribner is also one of the three finalists for the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize.

It is Scribner’s first time being nominated for both of these awards.

Scribner’s book is titled “Under Alien Skies.” 

“‘Under Alien Skies” argues that British and Hessian soldiers’ negative perceptions of the New World environment — encompassing physical terrains, flora, fauna, weather, and climate — combined with harsh wartime realities to elicit considerable physical, mental and emotional suffering among their ranks,” said Scribner. “At its core, it contends that you can’t understand how and why the British lost the American Revolution without investigating their complicated relationship with the American environment, it was a war of, and against, the natural world.”

Scribner wrote “Under Alien Skies”for a few various reasons.

“I went to graduate school at the University of Kansas, which was chock-full of environmental history professors and graduate students at the time. Practically all my friends in the history program were environmental history students, and they rubbed off on me,” Scribner said.

One of the reasons that Scriber wrote his book was because of where he grew up and where he is now. 

“My wife and I moved to Arkansas just over ten years ago, we love getting out into the mountains, rivers, waterfalls and trails of Arkansas and — having grown up on the plains of central Kansas — I often felt kind of out of my element in these diverse, beautiful environs, which I think helped me empathize with the British and Hessian soldiers during the American Revolution,” Scribner said. 

“Lastly — and I only realized this after I wrote the book — 9/11 happened when I was a sophomore in high school. A lot of the older kids in my small town went off to fight in Afghanistan and Iraq, and when they came back we would ask them what it was like. They hardly ever talked about their human foes, but instead talked about the foreign environment — vast deserts, sandstorms, heat, camel spiders, etc. They were just like the British and Hessian soldiers who had to travel 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean to fight in a strange, alien environment. So this book definitely owes to those experiences, from my perspective at least,” said Scriber.

The Society of Cincinnati Prize recognizes authors of books that help advance the understanding of the America Revolution and its legacy, according to UCA News.

“I’m incredibly honored and humbled [to win the Society of Cincinnati Prize]. It’s the oldest patriotic organization in America, and its first president was George Washington, so to be a part of this is really exciting. It’s a high point in my career,” Scribner said.

“The purpose of the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize is to draw public attention to American military history,” according to UCA News.

“To be a finalist is an achievement in its own right, and don’t get me wrong, I would love to win, but I’m also just happy to make it to the final three, especially out of 95 excellent and innovative works. I would say I am nervous, excited and happy all at once,” Scribner said.

“This kind of recognition places UCA alongside some of the most prestigious institutions in the country. The Society of the Cincinnati Prize and the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize are highly competitive honors that have gone to Pulitzer and Bancroft winners in the past,” said UCA President Houston Davis. “For Professor Scribner to be named among them demonstrates that UCA’s faculty are contributing at the highest levels of scholarship. It’s a point of pride for our university and a reminder of the impact our faculty make well beyond Arkansas.”

Scribner will receive the award for the Society of the Cincinnati Prize on Oct. 8 in Washington, D.C., according to UCA News. 

The winner for the Gilder Lehrman Military History Prize will  be announced in early October and the ceremony for the winner and finalists will be on Dec. 2 at the Yale Club of New York City. according to UCA News.