LONDON A portrayal of the Versailles Peace Conference at the end of World War One, an event that influenced the rest of the century, has won Britain's most valuable prize for non-fiction.

Margaret Macmillan became the first woman to take home the BBC four Samuel Johnson Prize on Monday night with "Peacemakers", which was praised for being "daringly politically incorrect", Reuters said.

Chair of the judging panel, broadcaster David Dimbleby said the account "challenges the conventional view of the Versailles Conference, whilst bringing vividly to life the extraordinary event which shaped the 20th century and still resonates today." Organizers praised the book for capturing the "personalities, ideals and prejudices" of a group of people who sketched out the shape of the modern world and were later made scapegoats for the mistakes of many who followed them.

The Toronto professor of history received a 30,000 pound ($45,000) prize and beat a strong challenge from liberal democrat peer and Chancellor of Oxford University Roy Jenkins with his biography of wartime Leader Winston Churchill.

The Other Contenders Were: -- "The Voices of Morebath", by Magdalene College Cambridge President Eamon Duffy, which uses the written accounts of a 16th century country priest to paint a picture of pre-reformation life in a Devon village.

-- "The Snow Geese", by Oxford author William Fiennes, a relative of actors Ralph and Joseph Fiennes, which tells of his 2,000 mile trek following migrating Canadian geese.

-- "The Invention of Clouds", by London-based writer Richard Hamblyn, a biography of English meteorologist Luke Howard, who named cloud types in 1802.

-- "Unfinest Hour", by Cambridge academic Brendan Simms, a study of the Bosnian conflict and British policies that may have extended its duration.

Previous winners of the award, in its fourth year, include historian Antony Beevor for his account of the siege of Stalingrad and music critic David Cairns for a biography of French composer Berlioz.