The AHA has approved the creation of the John F. Richards Book Prize in South Asian History, named after the distinguished historian from Duke. Sumit Guha has agreed to chair our fundraising committee, which is also comprised of Yasmin Saikia and Chitralekha Zutshi. Our fundraising team is hard at work and may be in touch in the near future. Please do contact our
team if you know of anyone who wishes to support our efforts. And please join me in thanking Profs. Guha, Saikia, and Zutshi for taking on this difficult task.

Romila Thapar has been named Honorary Foreign Member of the American Historical Association. Professor Thapar becomes the first historian from the entire South Asian region to receive this honor since Jadunath Sarkar in 1952! The honor has been given by the AHA since 1886, and Sarkar and Thapar are the only historians from South Asia to be so honored. Past recipients include Fernand Braudel, Albert Hourani, and Eric Hobsbawm. I hope you will join us in congratulating Prof. Thapar!