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May 27, 2009
Council on Foreign Relations
Out of Mao’s Shadow: The Struggle for the Soul of a New China by Philip Pan, current Moscow bureau chief and former Beijing bureau chief for the Washington Post, has won the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) Arthur Ross Book Award for the best book published on international affairs. Pan will receive $15,000 and be honored at the Council this June.
“The world is much aware of China’s growing prosperity and power. Less evident is the struggle against China’s repressive political regime by citizens seeking a freer and more just society. Through vivid reporting of the heroic and often hopeless challenges mounted by a handful of brave individuals, Pan throws light on this emerging battle for the soul of the globe’s most populous nation,” said Foreign Affairs Editor James F. Hoge, who chaired the selection committee.
The silver medal and a prize of $7,500 have been awarded to journalist Ahmed Rashid for Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
The jury also awarded an honorable mention and $2,500 to International Crisis Group president and chief executive officer Gareth Evans for The Responsibility to Protect: Ending Mass Atrocity Crimes Once and For All.
Additional shortlist nominees included Dexter Filkins for The Forever War, Kevin Phillips for Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, and the Global Crisis of American Capitalism, and Jeremy Salt for The Unmaking of the Middle East: A History of Western Disorder in Arab Lands.
ARTHUR ROSS BOOK AWARD JURY
Stanley Hoffmann
Paul & Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor, Harvard University
James F. Hoge Jr. (Chairman)
Peter G. Peterson Chair and Editor, Foreign Affairs
Robert W. Kagan
Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Miles Kahler
Rohr Professor of Pacific International Relations, University of California, San Diego
Mary Sarotte
Professor of International Relations, University of Southern California
Stephen M. Walt
John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
CFR’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.
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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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