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…
To Run the World: The Kremlin’s Cold War Bid for Global Power
What would it feel like To Run the World? The Soviet rulers spent the Cold War trying desperately to find out. In this panoramic new history of the conflict that defined the postwar era, Sergey Radchenko provides an unprecedented deep dive into the psychology of the Kremlin’s decision-making. He reveals how the Soviet struggle with the…
Homelands: A Personal History of Europe
Timothy Garton Ash, Europe’s “historian of the present,” has been “breathing Europe” for the last half century. In Homelands he embarks on a journey in time and space around the postwar continent, drawing on his own notes from many great events, giving vivid firsthand accounts of its leading actors, revisiting the places where its history…
Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise
From the jury: Overreach is a masterful analysis of the leading contemporary challenge in geopolitics by a long-time close observer of China. Shirk’s analysis of the vulnerability of the regime is provocative, plausible, and full of pragmatic potential for policymakers. She skillfully answers two critical questions for managing the “China problem”: how did we get…
The American War in Afghanistan
From the Jury: “After two decades and four presidential administrations, America finally ended its war in Afghanistan. There is little doubt about the outcome: the United States spent twenty years pouring blood, sweat and treasure into a frustrating and complex war — one that it ultimately lost. In The American War in Afghanistan: A History,…