Award
Lionel Gelber Prize 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
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 awards "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 .
Recipients are judged by an international jury panel 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 (two time winner),
Robert Skidelsky, Baron Skidelsky ,
Walter Russell Mead ,
Chrystia Freeland , and
Steve Coll .
Lionel Gelber
Lionel Gelber was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University when he wrote the book The Rise of Anglo-American Friendship: a Study of World Politics 1898 to 1906 in 1938.
[3] This book was an example of the type of scholarship he excelled in as It 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]
50 years later, the Lionel Gelber prize was created, celebrating the best non-fiction books that focused on global issues and relations.
[6] Hailed as “the world’s most important award for non-fiction” by The Economist, his prize celebrates and highlights important work being done in his field. As of 2023, the prize is now worth $50,000 dollars.
[7]
During his 82 years, this 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
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
^
"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. 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 . 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 .
External links