Lionel Gelber Prize

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." A prize of CA$50000 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". 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. 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.” 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.

50 years later, the Lionel Gelber prize was created, celebrating the best non-fiction books that focused on global issues and relations. 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 worth $50,000.

During his 82 years, this author, scholar, historian, and diplomat wrote eight books and countless articles on foreign relations. His drive, “formal attire, and his stately manners made him a formidable personality in a family of accomplished individuals.” 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. 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.

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.
 * 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.
 * 2011: Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America by Shelagh Grant.
 * 2012: Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel.
 * 2013: Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland.
 * 2014: The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass.
 * 2015: The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Union by Serhii Plokhy
 * 2016: Objective Troy: A Terrorist, A President, and the Rise of the Drone by Scott Shane
 * 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
 * 2020: The Light that Failed: A Reckoning by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes
 * 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
 * 2023: Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise by Susan L. Shirk
 * 2024: Homelands: A Personal History of Europe by Timothy Garton Ash