The Lionel Gelber Prize is a literary award for English non-fiction books on foreign policy. Founded in 1989 by Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber, the prize honors "the world’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs that seeks to deepen public debate on significant international issues."[1] A prize of CA$50,000 is awarded to the winner. The award is presented annually by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto.
Lionel Gelber Prize | |
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Awarded for | "the world’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs that seeks to deepen public debate on significant international issues." |
Presented by | Lionel Gelber Prize Board |
Reward(s) | CA$50,000 |
First awarded | 1990 |
Recipients are judged by an international jury of experts. In 1999, The Economist called the award "the world's most important award for non-fiction".[2] Past winners have included Lawrence Wright, Jonathan Spence, David McCullough, Kanan Makiya, Michael Ignatieff, Eric Hobsbawm, Robert Kinloch Massie, Adam Hochschild (a two-time winner), Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky, Walter Russell Mead, Chrystia Freeland, and Steve Coll.
Lionel Gelber
editThis section contains wording that promotes the subject in a subjective manner without imparting real information. (March 2024) |
Lionel Gelber was a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford in 1938 when he wrote the book The Rise of Anglo-American Friendship: a Study of World Politics 1898 to 1906.[3] This book examined the “rise of American global power, with all the risk, hope and complexity such a geopolitical shift entailed at the beginning of the 20th Century.”[4] He followed this work with Peace by Power: The Plain Man’s Guide to the Key Issues of the War and the Post-War World in 1942 and America in Britain’s Place in 1961.[5]
In 1990, the Lionel Gelber prize was created, celebrating the best non-fiction books that focused on global issues and international relations.[6] Hailed as “the world’s most important award for non-fiction” by The Economist, the prize celebrates and highlights important work being done in Gelber's field. As of 2023, the prize money is $50,000.[7]
During his 82 years, Gelber, an author, scholar, historian, and diplomat, wrote eight books and countless articles on foreign relations.[8] His drive, “formal attire, and his stately manners made him a formidable personality in a family of accomplished individuals.”[9] Lionel studied at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto before winning the Rhodes scholarship and began his studies at Balliol College at Oxford.[10] Through his contributions to global affairs, his reputation as “original thinker and a scholar passionately devoted to world issues,” the Lionel Gelber Prize honors a great man who knew of the importance of international relations and providing fellow scholars an audience for their work.[11]
List of award winners
edit- 1990: The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence.
- 1991: Code of Peace: Ethics and Security in the World of Warlord States by Dorothy V. Jones.
- 1992: Truman by David McCullough.
- 1993: Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World by Kanan Makiya.
- 1994: Blood and Belonging: Journeys Into the New Nationalism by Michael Ignatieff.
- 1995: Age of Extremes: The Short 20th Century by Eric Hobsbawm.
- 1996: Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev by Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov
- 1997: Aftermath: The Remnants of War by Donovan Webster.
- 1998: Loosing the Bonds: The United States and South Africa In the Apartheid Years by Robert Kinloch Massie.
- 1999: King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism In Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild.
- 2000: A Great Wall: Six Presidents and China: An Investigative History by Patrick Tyler.
- 2001: John Maynard Keynes, Fighting for Britain 1937-1946 by Robert Skidelsky.
- 2002: Special Providence: American Foreign Policy and How It Changed the World by Walter Russell Mead.
- 2003: America Unbound: The Bush Revolution in Foreign Policy by Ivo H. Daalder and James M. Lindsay
- 2004: Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll.[12]
- 2006: Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves by Adam Hochschild.
- 2007: The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright.
- 2008: The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries Are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier.
- 2009: A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East by Lawrence Freedman.
- 2010: The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China by Jay Taylor.[13]
- 2011: Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America by Shelagh Grant.[14]
- 2012: Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel.[15][16]
- 2013: Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland.[17][18]
- 2014: The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass.[19]
- 2015: The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union by Serhii Plokhy[20]
- 2016: Objective Troy: A Terrorist, A President, and the Rise of the Drone by Scott Shane[21]
- 2017: A Rage for Order: The Middle East in Turmoil, from Tahrir Square to ISIS by Robert F. Worth published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- 2018: Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum published by Penguin Random House
- 2019: Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World by Adam Tooze published by Penguin Random House[22]
- 2020: The Light that Failed: A Reckoning by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes[23]
- 2021: Trade Wars Are Class Wars: How Rising Inequality Distorts the Global Economy and Threatens International Peace by Matthew C. Klein and Michael Pettis
- 2022: The American War in Afghanistan: A History by Carter Malkasian[24]
- 2023: Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise by Susan L. Shirk[25]
- 2024: Homelands: A Personal History of Europe by Timothy Garton Ash[26]
References
edit- ^ "About the Prize". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2020-11-14.
- ^ "The devil inside". The Economist. September 9, 1999. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "Bibliography". The Lionel Gelber Prize - The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Retrieved 2023-10-14.
- ^ "HONORS". 3 March 2005 – via washingtonpost.com.
- ^ "The Generalissimo — Jay Taylor - Harvard University Press".
- ^ Medley, Mark (March 1, 2011). "Shelagh D. Grant wins Lionel Gelber Prize for Polar Imperative". National Post. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
- ^ "Vogel wins Gelber Prize for book". The Harvard Gazette. 27 February 2012. Archived from the original on 2022-04-17. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
- ^ "Book examining China's transformation wins $15,000 Lionel Gelber Prize". National Post. February 27, 2012. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
- ^ Stuster, J. Dana (March 25, 2013). "The 2013 Gelber Prize winner: Chrystia Freeland's 'Plutocrats'". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 2014-11-23. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ^ Medley, Mark (February 4, 2013). "Lionel Gelber Prize longlist revealed". National Post. Archived from the original on February 4, 2014. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
- ^ "'The Blood Telegram' wins the 2014 Lionel Gelber Prize". CTV News. March 31, 2014. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ^ "Lionel Gelber Prize Announces 25th Anniversary Winner".
- ^ Prize, The Lionel Gelber. "Scott Shane Wins the 2016 Lionel Gelber Prize for Objective Troy".
- ^ "Adam Tooze Wins the 2019 Lionel Gelber Prize for Crashed; How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World" (PDF). The Lionel Gelber Prize. February 26, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2019.
- ^ Year 2020 Gelber Prize Winner: The Light that Failed: A Reckoning. Authors: Ivan Krastev Stephen Holmes//Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, University of Toronto, 2020
- ^ Berki, Attila (April 12, 2022). "Winner of the 2022 Lionel Gelber Prize announced". Quill & Quire. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
- ^ Drudi, Cassandra (April 10, 2023). "Susan L. Shirk wins 2023 Lionel Gelber Prize". Quill & Quire. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
- ^ "2024 Lionel Gelber Prize awarded to Timothy Garton Ash for Homelands: A Personal History of Europe". newswire.ca. March 6, 2024. Retrieved April 24, 2024.