The American Society for Legal History (ASLH) awarded the Cromwell Book Prize to Speculation Nation: Land Mania in the Revolutionary American Republic by Michael Blaakman. The Cromwell Book Prize recognizes the best book in the field of American legal history by an early career scholar. In the ASLH's announcement, they called Speculation Nation “lucid, deeply researched, and beautifully rendered” and “makes a compelling case for placing land speculation at the very center of our understanding of the American project.”

Michael Blaakman is Associate Professor in History.