James Steinberg
James Steinberg is the tenth Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies SAIS. He served as Deputy Secretary of State to Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, from 2009-2011 and deputy national security advisor to President Bill Clinton from 1996 to 2000.Sergey Radchenko
Sergey Radchenko is the 2025 Lionel Gelber Prize laureate and the Wilson E. Schmidt Distinguished Professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. He has written extensively on the Cold War, nuclear history, and on Russian and Chinese foreign and security policies. Before he joined SAIS, Professor Radchenko worked and lived in Mongolia, China,…
Capitalism: A Global History
From the Gelber Prize jury Sven Beckert paints a sweeping picture of global capitalism which, he argues, begins much earlier than is conventionally assumed. Capitalism, from its earliest origins, he argues, was global in its origins and its structures. Beckert traces its path through history as it evolves and transforms its processes to the present…
House of Huawei: The Secret History of China’s Most Powerful Company
From the Gelber Prize jury The House of Huawei is a history of a company, at times a biography of its founder, Ren Zhengfei, and, at the same time, the story of contemporary China. Eva Dou deftly weaves together the history of telecommunications technology with domestic and global politics, taking readers inside decision-making in Beijing,…
How Progress Ends: Technology, Innovation and the Fate of Nations
From the Gelber Prize jury In a grand sweep of history, Carl Benedikt Frey explores both the rise and fall of innovation and progress over the last 1000 years. Frey focuses on how rapid growth and innovation frequently stall when societies fail to adapt to technological change. He identifies the key tension between the freedom…
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion, and Catastrophic Miscalculation
From the Gelber Prize jury The attack by the United States and Israel on Iran and the assassination of Ayatollah Ali Khameini are rooted in the failure to predict and understand the revolution of 1979. Scott Anderson tells a gripping story of how leaders in Washington and Teheran misunderstood, misjudged, and failed to communicate with…
Thinking Historically: A Guide to Statecraft and Strategy
From the Gelber Prize jury Francis Gavin has written a profound work of philosophy of history that is at the same time eminently readable. He writes not about history but rather about historical sensibility, a way of understanding and thinking about the world with all its complexities and uncertainties. Historical sensibility creates discomfort with linear…
John Bew
John Bew has served in senior positions at the highest levels of the U.K. government, spending over five years as the chief Foreign Policy Advisor at 10 Downing Street, working for four prime ministers and through two general elections. He was the author of the last two U.K. national security strategies and intimately involved in the…