1776, 1922...

Trolling the web for something to be outraged about on this sleepy August day (other than Europe cooking and the Middle East exploding while Dubya snoozes in Crawford), we came across this passage in a Slate article about the Booker prize:

Today, being a British, Irish, or Commonwealth citizen will allow a novelist to qualify for Britain's most coveted literary prize, the Man Booker Prize, now worth $80,000 (or 50,000 pounds). If, however, you write in English and come from the one English-speaking country that defeated the British, you are excluded from the competition.

The article had already been briefly yanked for an incorrect claim that citizens of the Republic of Ireland were not eligible for the award, but we're being slighted again in this description of the USA as the only English speaking country that defeated the British. DUDES! Did the Brits just decide to endow the 32 counties* with self-rule in 1922 out of the goodness of their hearts? Did no-one see that Michael Collins movie? And anyway, if American authors are feeling slighted about not being eligible for the Booker, they should consider the Irish IMPAC award instead. Any book, any language, any nationality. And more money than the Booker.

(*6 counties within the UK, and 26 becoming the Free State)