The shortlist of titles in contention for the Business Book of the Year Award is here.
If there is a theme this year, it’s capitalism: a history of capitalism in the United States, the rise of capitalism that is creating a cohort of billionaires in India today, the need to recast capitalism and focus on creating real value.
The shortlist also includes a tale of scandal; a look at a new form of power: grassroots movements enabled by collaboration and social media; and a thoughtful analysis of why we should just ‘give people money’ – specifically $12,000 a year.
“What’s striking is how varied both the voices and topics on this year’s shortlist are …. [The books] should help political and corporate leaders struggling with the good, the bad, and the ugly of creative destruction,” said Rik Kirkland, the McKinsey partner who leads our publishing function and serves on the judging panel.
The £30,000 award, first presented in 2005, goes to the book that provides “the most compelling and enjoyable” insight into modern business issues. Runners-up will each receive £10,000.
The winner will be announced November 12 in London.
The Billionaire Raj: A Journey Through India’s New Gilded Age
By James Crabtree
A portrait of India’s new tycoon class, rapid growth, and deep inequality, written by a professor at Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
By Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge
A sweeping history of the US economy, co-authored by the former Federal Reserve chairman and a correspondent for The Economist
New Power: How Power Works in Our Hyperconnected World—and How to Make It Work for You
By Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms
An analysis of how digital communication has changed the spread of ideas, the growth of movements, and the distribution of power, co-authored by the CEO of Purpose and the president and CEO of the 92nd Street Y
By Mariana Mazzucato
A University College London economics professor critiques modern capitalism’s unsustainable tendency to reward activities that don’t create real value and may in fact destroy it
By Annie Lowrey
An economics writer from The Atlantic analyzes the increasingly popular idea that governments should provide stipends for every citizen
By John Carreyrou
The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and her Theranos blood-testing firm, as told by the investigative reporter who uncovered the fraud in the Wall Street Journal