Dr Roderick Bailey receives Albanian book award

NEWS |

Congratulations to Pembroke Senior Associate in History, Dr Roderick Bailey, who recently received an award from the Albanian Academy of Sciences for the Albanian translation of his first book, The Wildest Province.

Dr Bailey’s book, which studies Britain’s involvement with the Second World War Albanian Resistance, was originally published in English in 2008. Having been translated into Albanian, this edition was unveiled in Tirana during official events to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the country’s liberation from German occupation. The British Ambassador to Albania, HE Duncan Norman, also hosted a formal event to mark the book’s publication.

The Albanian Academy of Sciences lauded Dr Bailey’s work as the best foreign authored book on Albania’s wartime history to be published since the fall of communism. They also commended it as being “of essential importance for establishing a new standard [in Albania] of historical narrative… written with respect for the Albanian people… regardless of their [political] orientation”.

Discussing the award, Dr Bailey commented: “It meant a lot to me to have my work recognised in this way: not only by the country’s leading scientific institute, but also by the scholars of a post-communist country still grappling with many aspects of its recent past.”