Introducing the 2013 Gelber Prize finalists: today’s nominee, Paul Bracken

Over the past few days, we’ve been sharing interviews with the authors nominated for this year’s Lionel Gelber Prize. A literary award for the year’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs. The award is sponsored by the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto in cooperation with Foreign Policy. The ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
613547_130221_bracken2.jpg
613547_130221_bracken2.jpg

Over the past few days, we've been sharing interviews with the authors nominated for this year's Lionel Gelber Prize. A literary award for the year's best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs.

Over the past few days, we’ve been sharing interviews with the authors nominated for this year’s Lionel Gelber Prize. A literary award for the year’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs.

The award is sponsored by the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto in cooperation with Foreign Policy. The interviews are conducted by Rob Steiner, former Wall Street Journal correspondent and director of fellowships in international journalism at the Munk School.  

Next up is Yale political scientist Paul Bracken. Here’s the jury’s citation for The Second Nuclear Age:

The Second Nuclear Age: Strategy, Danger and the New Power Politics by Paul Bracken urges an end to complacency about nuclear strategy post-Cold War. With deep personal experience in the field, Bracken examines regional nuclear theatres that barely existed under the 20th Century’s duopoly, and makes the case for new paradigms of conflict management in a far more volatile nuclear game.  This is a cautionary treatise of profound potential significance in a newly multilateral world.” 

You can listen to the interview here.

Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

More from Foreign Policy

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger prepares to testify before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger prepares to testify before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Was Henry Kissinger Really a Realist?

America’s most famous 20th century statesman wasn’t exactly what he claimed to be.

The leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, shakes hands with Iranian Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri and the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force, General Hossein Salami, during the swearing in ceremony for Iran's new president at the parliament in the Islamic republic's capital Tehran on August 5, 2021.
The leader of the Palestinian Hamas movement, Ismail Haniyeh, shakes hands with Iranian Chief of Staff for the Armed Forces Mohammad Bagheri and the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard force, General Hossein Salami, during the swearing in ceremony for Iran's new president at the parliament in the Islamic republic's capital Tehran on August 5, 2021.

The 7 Reasons Iran Won’t Fight for Hamas

A close look at Tehran’s thinking about escalating the war in Gaza.

A globe with blocks and chunks missing from it sits atop the shoulders of a person looking into a dystopian horizon.
A globe with blocks and chunks missing from it sits atop the shoulders of a person looking into a dystopian horizon.

The Global Credibility Gap

No one power or group can uphold the international order anymore—and that means much more geopolitical uncertainty ahead.

Joaquin Phoenix (center) stars in the film "Napoleon."
Joaquin Phoenix (center) stars in the film "Napoleon."

What Ridley Scott’s ‘Napoleon’ Gets Wrong About War

The film’s ideas have poisoned military thinking for centuries.