The shortlist for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award (www.ft.com/bookaward) was announced today.
The shortlist is:
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Has Shaped the World from Prehistory to the Present
William Bernstein (Atlantic Books)
Cold Steel: The Multi-billion-dollar Battle for a Global Industry
Tim Bouquet & Byron Ousey (Little Brown Book Group)
When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change
Mohamed El-Erian (McGraw-Hill)
McMafia: Crime Without Frontiers
Misha Glenny (Random House)
Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy
Lawrence Lessig (The Penguin Press)
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
Alice Schroeder (Bloomsbury Publishing)
The judges, Lionel Barber, Lloyd C. Blankfein, Niall Ferguson, Mario Monti, Sung-Joo Kim and Helen Alexander decided on the six books which, in their opinion, provided ‘the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues.’ The winning author will receive £30,000 and the other five shortlisted authors will each receive £5,000.
The overall winner will be announced at a gala event at The Plaza, New York, on 14th October, at which Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman, CEO, and President of IBM, will be the keynote speaker. The event will be compèred by CNBC television business journalist Maria Bartiromo.
Lionel Barber, Editor of the Financial Times comments:
“At no time has there been a greater need for books that provide an insight into modern business issues. The finalists were chosen from the greatest number of titles ever submitted in the award’s four year history, and we’re delighted to have such a strong shortlist from which to select a winner in October.”
“We chose from an outstanding selection of books,” said Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs. “The finalists address what we think are the most important global issues spanning a broad array of industries and disciplines.”
The judging panel for the 2008 Award is:
The shortlist is:
A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Has Shaped the World from Prehistory to the Present
William Bernstein (Atlantic Books)
Few historical enquiries tell us as much about the world we live in today as the search for the origins of world trade. As Adam Smith observed, man has an intrinsic ‘propensity to truck, barter and exchange one thing for another.’ From the dawn of recorded history there has been vigorous long-distance commerce. Archaeologists have even found evidence of the prehistoric conveyance over long distances of strategic materials such as obsidian and stone tools. To demonstrate how profoundly trade influences our lives try to imagine Italian cuisine without the tomato, or a cafe anywhere in the world beyond coffee’s birthplace in Yemen. A Splendid Exchange sets out to establish just what drove early man to trade and to examine its profound influence on the world we know today. William Bernstein goes on to suggest that an analysis of one of the globe’s most ancient forms of communication might teach us about how to avoid seemingly new anxieties about globalisation and the flattening of the world.
A Splendid Exchange challenges assumptions on both sides of the great ideological divide over free trade.
William J. Bernstein is a financial theorist. He is known for his research in the field of Modern Portfolio Theory and for his self-help finance books for individual investors who wish to manage their own equity portfolios. Bernstein holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry and an M.D. in neurology; he practiced neurology until retiring from the field. He currently lives in Oregon, USA.
Cold Steel: The Multi-billion-dollar Battle for a Global Industry
Tim Bouquet & Byron Ousey (Little Brown Book Group)
Cold Steel is the gripping story of the world’s biggest and most hard-fought industry takeover of recent years, an epic corporate battle that would send shockwaves through the political corridors of Europe, excite the world’s financial markets, enrich thirty hedge funds and transform the global steel industry. In 2006, the two largest steel-producers went head to head in a bitter battle for total market domination. Lakshmi Mittal, a Calcutta-born industrialist who had raised himself up from humble beginnings to become the world’s fourth-richest man, proposes a friendly merger with rival Arcelor, a pan-European company whose interested parties include the governments of Spain, Luxembourg and Belgium. Arcelor’s mercurial CEO, Frenchman Guy Dolle, firmly refuses, and the scene is set for a massive hostile takeover involving billions of dollars of finance, government and shareholder manoeuvring, and accusations of jingoism and double-dealing. Cold Steel brings to life the cut and thrust of big business at war.
Tim Bouquet is a journalist writer, editor, broadcaster and traveller who contributes to leading titles including the Telegraph Magazine and The Times Magazine. He wrote the first British magazine profile of Lakshimi Mittal for the Daily Telegraph Magazine, with the full cooperation of and access to the Mittal family and senior figures at Mittal Steel.
Byron Ousey is a managing director with Gavin Anderson, an international financial public relations consultancy that specialises in advising governments and major cooperations on takeovers and mergers. During the Mittal-Arcelor battle he advised the Luxembourg government on their communications strategy.
When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of Global Economic Change
Mohamed El-Erian (McGraw-Hill)
Never before have investors and policy makers been beset by so many conflicting messages about the economy and the markets. While most pundits dismiss the conflicts as ‘noise’ in the system, Mohamed A. El-Erian avers that those messages signal deep, structural changes and realignments that are radically redefining the investment game. Written by the man who Fortune magazine refers to as a ‘Global Guru’, When Markets Collide offers a cogent picture of the rapidly changing world financial system. This book brings the reader up to speed on the new economic and investing landscape and provides a detailed blueprint for capitalising on the phenomenal opportunities now available in that new investment landscape, while minimising the new and challenging set of risks.
Mohammed A. El-Erian is a co-CEO and co-CIO of PIMCO, one of the largest investment management companies in the world. He formerly served as president and CEO of Harvard Management company, the firm that manages the university’s $35 billion endowment. He spent 15 years at the International Money Fund, working on policy, capital market and multi lateral economic issues. In 2004, Fortune named him a member of its eight-person ‘Mutual Fund Dream Team’.
McMafia: Crime Without Frontiers
Misha Glenny (Random House)
McMafia is a journey through the new world of international organised crime. For three years, Misha Glenny recorded the stories of gun runners in Ukraine, money launderers in Dubai, drug syndicates in Canada, cyber criminals in Brazil, racketeers in Japan and many more. During his investigations, he spoke to countless gangsters, policemen and victims of organised crime while also exploring the ferocious consumer demand for drugs, trafficked women, illegal labour and arms across five continents. The journey begins with a murder in England’s stockbroker belt and continues with stories that are often horrifying, sometimes inspiring, usually bizarre and occasionally funny. Together they build a breathtaking picture of the shadow economy that may now account for up to 20% of the world’s GDP.
Misha Glenny is a distinguished journalist and historian. As the Central Europe Correspondent, first for The Guardian and then for the BBC, he chronicled the collapse of communism and the wars in the former Yugoslavia. He has won several major awards for his work, including the Sony Gold Award for outstanding contribution to broadcasting. The author of three books on Eastern Europe and the Balkans, he has been regularly consulted by the US and European governments on major policy issues and ran an NGO for three years, assisting with the reconstruction of Serbia, Macedonia and Kosovo. He now lives in London.
Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy
Lawrence Lessig (The Penguin Press)
The newest and possibly the most harmful culture war is that waged against our children and others who create and consume art. America’s copyright laws have ceased to perform their original, beneficial role; protecting artists’ creations while allowing them to build on previous creative works. In fact, our system now criminalises those very actions.
For many, new technologies have made it irresistible to flout these unreasonable and ultimately untenable laws. Some of today’s most talented artists are felons, and so are our children, who see no reason why they shouldn’t do what their computers and the Web let them do, from burning a copyrighted CD for a friend to ‘biting’ riffs from films, videos, songs, etc and making new art from them.
Lessig shows how we can and must end this conflict, and advises that by embracing ‘read-write culture,’ which allows its users to create art as readily as they consume it, we can ensure that creators get the support—artistic, commercial, and ethical—that they deserve and need.
Lawrence Lessig is a Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school’s Center for Internet and Society, and was previously the Berkman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and a Professor at the University of Chicago. He clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court
Professor Lessig is the author of Code v2 (2007), Free Culture (2004), The Future of Ideas (2001) and Code and Other Laws of Cyberspace (1999). He is on the board of the Creative Commons project, the boards of MAPLight and the Sunlight Foundation. He has served on the board of the Free Software Foundation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Public Library of Science, and Public Knowledge. He was also a columnist for Wired, Red Herring, and The Industry Standard.
The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life
Alice Schroeder (Bloomsbury Publishing)
“Life is like a snowball. The important thing is finding wet snow and a really long hill”. Recounting the life and times of one of the most respected men in the world, Warren Buffett, ‘The Snowball’ is the most fascinating financial success story of our time. The legendary Omaha investor has never written a memoir, but finally has allowed Alice Schroeder the unprecedented opportunity to explore directly with him - and with those closest to him - his work opinions, struggles, triumphs, follies and wisdom. The result is this personally revealing and complete biography of the man known across the world as ‘The Oracle of Omaha’. Never before has Buffett spent countless hours responding to a writer’s questions, talking, giving complete access to his wife, children, friends and business associates - opening his files, recalling his childhood. This is the book that provides the never previously published insight into his character and life, distilling the principles and philosophies that have guided him on a path to extraordinary success and esteem.
Author Alice Schroeder was a noted insurance industry analyst and writer who was a managing director at Morgan Stanley. Ms. Schroeder was born in Texas, and she earned an undergraduate degree and her MBA at the University of Texas at Austin before moving east to work in finance. She is a former CPA and lives in Connecticut with her husband.
For further information please contact:
UK: Katrina Power/Steven Williams, Midas PR
T: +44 (0) 207 584 7474 / +44 (0)79639 62538
E: katrina.power@midaspr.co.uk
Lizzie Allen, Financial Times
T: +44 (0)207 873 4463
E: lizzie.allen@FT.com
US: Camille McDuffie, Goldberg McDuffie Communications
T: +1 212-446-5106
E: cmcduffie@goldbergmcduffie.com
Darcy Keller, Financial Times
T: +1 212-641-6614
E: Darcy.keller@ft.com
Ed Canaday, Goldman Sachs
T: +212-357-0005
E: ed.canaday@gs.com
Notes to editors:
The closing date for entries for The Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award 2008, invited from publishers or bona fide imprints based in any country, was June 30, 2008. Details of the Terms and Conditions are available from www.ft.com/bookaward. This annual award aims to identify the book that provides the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues, including management, finance and economics. The overall winner will be announced at a gala event in New York on 14th October 2008.
About the Financial Times:
The Financial Times, one of the world’s leading business newspapers, is recognised internationally for its authority, integrity and accuracy. Providing extensive news, comment and analysis, the newspaper is printed at 24 print sites across the globe, has a daily circulation of 417,570 (ABC figures, August 2008) and a readership of 1.4 million people worldwide. FT.com is the definitive home for business intelligence on the web, providing an essential source of news, comment, data and analysis for the global business community. FT.com attracts 7.1 million unique users, generating 72 million page views (ABCe figures, March 2008).
About Goldman Sachs:
Goldman Sachs is a leading global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a wide range of services worldwide to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high net worth individuals. Founded in 1869, it is one of the oldest and largest investment banking firms. The firm is headquartered in New York and maintains offices in London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hong Kong and other major financial centers around the world.
www.ft.com/bookaward
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