Award name: 14 The Cornelius Ryan Award

A powerful look into the soul of China as its 1.3 billion inhabitants clamor for economic and spiritual success after decades of deprivation. The book is distinguished by Osnos’s ability to penetrate Chinese society at all levels and tell revealing stories about the country’s breakneck transformation.

A riveting first-person account of the Haitian earthquake and the failure of the international relief effort by the former Associated Press bureau chief in Port-au-Prince. Jonathan Katz impressively weaves together the dramatic events of the earthquake and its aftermath, including a United Nations-induced cholera epidemic. He highlights the self-defeating efforts of NGOs to deal with the tragedy and the impotence and corruption of Haiti’s government.

Peter Bergen brings his decades of reporting and insights to bear in this definitive account of the search for Osama bin-Laden. He captures the tension of the years-long post-9/11 search, weaving history and personality into a brisk narrative. Bergen’s deep familiarity with the subject and years of on-the-ground work demystify the dizzingly complex Al Qaeda network, and give rich texture to the most riveting manhunt of our time.

Robin Wright’s book captures a pivotal moment in history with superb on the ground reporting across the Middle East that reflects her decades of experience covering the region. In interviews and observations, Wright shows journalistic enterprise and a comprehensive command of the tumult in today’s Islamic world. The book challenges conventional wisdom about the incompatibility of Islam and democracy profiling the reformers Wright says will lead the Middle East away from extremism. With vivid portraits, the book describes the events of the Arab Spring as examples of a regional “counter-jihad” fought by young Muslims who constitute a majority in the Islamic world.

Oliver Bullough’s book is an ambitious and lively mix of history and reportage from the Caucasus, a region that is chronically misunderstood and under-reported, yet where the violent dispersion of indigenous populations unfortunately has lasting and universal relevance. The judges award a citation for excellence to Seymour Topping’s memoir, On the Front Lines of the Cold War. The book deserves special recognition for its humane vision, glimpses behind-the-scenes, and thoughtful conclusions stemming from Topping’s extraordinary career as a reporter and editor.

In the classic combat reporting tradition of Ernie Pyle, Michael Herr and Dexter Filkins, Pulitzer Prize winner David Finkel has written a harrowing account of one U.S. Army battalion’s experience of the surge, that desperate last-minute effort to win the war in Iraq.

In his narrative of the Iraq War, Dexter Filkins lives up to his reputation as the best war correspondent of his generation. His vivid portraits of the arc of violence and death that spreads from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Iraq and even the tip of Manhattan capture the fear and the feel of a global conflagration.

How did the U.S. get it so wrong about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? Bob Drogin, national security and intelligence reporter for the Los Angeles Times, provides much of the answer in this anatomy of the CIA’s drive to prove the existence of chemical weapons in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.

Best nonfiction book on international affairs AWARD YEAR: 2005 AWARD NAME: The Cornelius Ryan Award 2005 RECIPIENT: George Packer AFFILIATION: Farrar, Straus and Giroux HONORED WORK: “The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq” This remarkable piece of journalism on the Iraq war combines analysis, on-the-ground reporting, and superlative storytelling in a compelling narrative. Packer gets close…