Ronald Wright

This article is about the Canadian author. For the American boxer see Winky Wright.

Ronald Wright
Ronald Wright speaking at the University of Alberta 2007.
Born	1948 London, England
Nationality	Canadian
Occupation(s)	Writer, Historian, Archeologist

Ronald Wright (born 1948, London, England) is a Canadian author who has written books of travel, history and fiction. His nonfiction includes the bestseller Stolen Continents, winner of the Gordon Montador Award and chosen as a book of the year by the Independent and the Sunday Times. His first novel, A Scientific Romance, won the 1997 David Higham Prize for Fiction and was chosen a book of the year by the Globe and Mail, the Sunday Times, and the New York Times.

Wright was selected to give the 2004 Massey Lectures. His contribution, A Short History of Progress, looks at the modern human predicament in light of the 10,000-year experiment with civilization. In it he concludes that human civilization, to survive, would need to become environmentally sustainable, with specific reference to global warming and climate change.

His latest work What is America?: A Short History of the New World Order continues the thread begun in A Short History of Progress by examining what Wright calls "the Columbian Age" and consequently the nature and historical origins of modern American imperium.

Ronald Wright is also a frequent contributor to the Times Literary Supplement, and has written and presented documentaries for radio and television on both sides of the Atlantic. He studied archaeology at Cambridge University and later at the University of Calgary, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1996. He lives in British Columbia.

Books

• Cut Stones and Crossroads: A Journey in Peru, 1984, Penguin Books
• On Fiji Islands, 1986, Penguin Books
• Time Among the Maya, 1990, Penguin Books
• Stolen Continents, 1992, Penguin Books
• Home and Away, 1994, Vintage Canada
• A Scientific Romance, 1998, Vintage Canada
• Henderson's Spear, 2002, Vintage Canada
• A Short History of Progress, 2004, Anansi Press
• What is America?: A Short History of the New World Order, 2008, Knopf Canada

Awards

• Non-Fiction Book of the Year, CBA Libris Award, for A Short History of Progress, 2005.
• Finalist, British Columbia Achievement Foundation Award for Canadian Non-Fiction, for A Short History of Progress, 2005.
• Sunday Times (UK) Book of the Year, for A Scientific Romance, 1998.
• Winner of The David Higham Fiction Prize for A Scientific Romance, 1997.
• Honorary Doctorate, University of Calgary, 1996.
• Globe and Mail Editor's Choice, for A Scientific Romance, 1995.
• Gordon Montador Award, for Stolen Continents, 1993.
• Nominated, Author of the Year, CBA Libris Award, for Stolen Continents, 1992.
• CBC Literary Award, for "Going to the Wall", 1991.
• Shortlisted, Trillium Book Award, for Time Among the Maya, 1990.
• Canadian Science Writers' Association Award, for "The Lamanai Enigma", 1986.

See also

• A Short History of Progress
• What is America?: A Short History of the New World Order
• Societal collapse

External links

• RonaldWright.com Official Website (including audio and video interviews with the author)
• British Columbia Achievement Foundation Award biography of Ronald Wright as a finalist for Canadian non-fiction in 2005
• The Origins of Man contains, after a permaculture segment, the first of five 2004 Massey Lectures on A Short History of Progress