Timothy Yang, associate professor in the department of history, was awarded the 2022 Hagley Prize for the best book in business history. Yang won for his book "A Medicated Empire: The Pharmaceutical Industry and Modern Japan" (Cornell University Press, 2021), which explores the history of Japan's pharmaceutical industry in the early twentieth century through a close account of Hoshi Pharmaceuticals, one of East Asia's most influential drug companies from the late 1910s through the early 1950s.
The Hagley Prize in Business History is awarded jointly by the Hagley Museum and Library and the Business History Conference, and consists of a medallion and $2,500, which are presented at the annual meeting of the conference:
The Business History Conference is a scholarly organization devoted to encouraging all aspects of research, writing, and teaching about business history and about the environment in which businesses operate. Founded in 1954, the organization is now international in scope, with approximately 30 percent of its membership residing outside North America.
"I'm very humbled and honored that my book was awarded the Hagley Prize, and I'm especially proud that it was the first one in Asian history," Yang said, who teaches a broad range of courses in East Asian history. "It's definitely not a prize I expected to win and I am thankful to my amazing colleagues in the History Department and across Franklin College and especially to the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts for supporting me. I made the final revisions while on a Willson Center fellowship, and I can't imagine what the book would've looked like without the center's support."
Congratulations to Yang on this outstanding recognition of his scholarship.