House Historian Robert Remini last week was awarded the 2007 George Pendleton Prize for his sweeping 625-page book, “The House: The History of the U.S. House of Representatives,” which was published last spring.

The award is given by the Society for History in the Federal Government and named for 19th century Sen. George Pendleton (D-Ohio), best known for his eponymous 1883 civil service reform act. It honors “an outstanding major publication on the federal government’s history, produced by or for a federal history program.” The House history book was mandated by an act of Congress.

Remini, an emeritus history professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago and an expert on former President Andrew Jackson (he won the National Book Award for “Andrew Jackson and the Course of American Democracy, 1833-1845”) has also published biographies on everyone from former Sen. Henry Clay to former President John Quincy Adams.

— Bree Hocking