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April 1, 2008
Council on Foreign Relations
The Council has announced the seventh annual Arthur Ross Book Award shortlist nominees for the best book published in the last two years
on international affairs. The award consists of a $30,000 first prize, a $15,000 second prize, and a $7,500 honorable mention.
Paul Collier for The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It (Oxford University Press). A thoughtful examination of fifty failing states, the "bottom billion," whose problems
defy traditional approaches to alleviating poverty.
Robert Dallek for Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power (HarperCollins). An expertly researched joint portrait of a pair of outsize leaders whose unlikely partnership dominated the world stage and changed the course
of history.
Joshua Kurlantzick for Charm Offensive: How China's Soft Power Is Transforming the World (Yale University Press). An insightful assessment
of Beijing's new diplomacy that has altered the political landscape in Southeast Asia and far beyond, changing the dynamics of China's relationships with other countries.
Melvyn Leffler for For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War (Farrar, Straus and Giroux). A fascinating interpretation, based on newly released archives, of the ideological and political conflict that endangered the world for half a century.
Trita Parsi for Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States (Yale University Press). A unique and important dissection of the complicated triangular relations that continue to shape the future of the Middle East.
The Council's Arthur Ross Book Award is a significant award for a book on international affairs. It was endowed by Arthur Ross in 2001
to honor nonfiction works, in English or translation, that merit special attention for bringing forth new information that changes our understanding of events or problems, developing analytical approaches that allow new and different insights into critical issues, or providing new ideas that help resolve foreign policy problems.
The winners will be announced in early May and honored at an event in June at the Council's New York headquarters.
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Start-Up Nation addresses the trillion-dollar question: How is it that Israel—a country of 7.1 million, only sixty years old, surrounded by enemies— produces more start-up companies than large, peaceful, and stable nations like Japan, China, India, Korea, Canada, and the UK? With the insights of geopolitical experts and investors, the authors examine this nation’s adversity-driven culture to answer this question and offer prescriptions for a global economy on the rebound.
In Forces of Fortune, Vali Nasr presents a paradigm-changing revelation that will transform the understanding of the Muslim world at large. He reveals that there is a vital but unseen rising force in the Islamic world—a new business-minded middle class—that is building a vibrant new Muslim world economy and that holds the key to winning the cold war against Iran and extremists.
In Cuba: What Everyone Needs to Know, Julia E. Sweig presents a remarkably accessible portrait of Cuba's unique place on the world stage over the past fifty years, including its internal politics, its often fraught relationship with the United States, and its shifting relationship with the global community.
Complete list of CFR Books
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