Council’s 2008 Arthur Ross Book Award Shortlist Announced

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.