Council Announces Arthur Ross Award Short List

The Council has announced the sixth annual Arthur Ross Book Award shortlist nominees for the best book published in the last two years on international affairs.

Kwame Anthony Appiah for Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers(W.W. Norton). A thoughtful examination of the historic influence of the ancient philosophy of “cosmopolitanism,” and the contemporary potential this philosophy has to usher in a new era of global understanding.

Robert L. Beisner for Dean Acheson: A Life in the Cold War (Oxford University Press). An expertly researched biography of one of the most influential secretaries of state in U.S. history that explores not only the major triumphs and missteps, but also the unpredictable friendship between Acheson and President Harry S. Truman.  

Robert Fisk for The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East(Knopf). A sweeping and dramatic history of the last half century of conflict in the Middle East chronicling the tragedy of the region from the Algerian Civil War to the Iranian Revolution; from the American hostage crisis in Beirut to the Iran-Iraq War; from the 1991 Gulf War to the American invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Thomas Ricks for Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq (Penguin Press HC). Candid on-the-record interviews combine with extensive on-the-ground reporting reveal an exclusive look into the planning and execution of the American military invasion in Iraq.

Odd Arne Westad for The Global Cold War:Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (Cambridge University Press). An important reexamination of the Cold War through the United States and USSR worldwide interventions that left a legacy of resentment and resistance that can be traced to the origins of current international conflicts.

Lawrence Wright for The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Knopf). A sweeping narrative history of the events leading up to 9/11, focusing on the people, ideas, the terrorists’ plans, and behind-the-scenes accounts of Western intelligence failures that culminated in the assault on America.

The Council’s Arthur Ross Book Award is the most significant award for a book on international affairs. It was endowed by Arthur Ross in 2001 to honor non-fiction 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 award consists of a $25,000 first prize, a $10,000 second prize, and a $5,000 honorable mention. The winners will be announced in early May and honored at a dinner in June at the Council’s office in New York.

ARTHUR ROSS BOOK AWARD JURY

Rose Gottemoeller

Director

Carnegie Moscow Center

Stanley Hoffmann

Paul & Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor

Harvard University

James F. Hoge, Jr. (Chairman)

Peter G. Peterson Chair & 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

Michael A. McFaul

Director, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law

Stanford University

Stephen M. Walt

Academic Dean

John F. Kennedy School of Government

Harvard University

Arthur Ross*

Vice Chairman

United Nations Association of the U.S.A.

*ex officio