Congratulations to the winner of the Intelligence History Book Prize 2024!
Susan Perlman, Contesting France: Intelligence and US Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War (Cambridge University Press 2023)
For the first time, in October 2024, the International Intelligence History Association (IIHA) awarded the Intelligence History Book Prize. Even though there are book prizes for various scholarly fields, this is the first one to celebrate works on intelligence history. The prize is worth € 1,000 and the winner will also be featured in the December 2024 issue of the Journal of Intelligence History.
The Call for Nominations went out in summer 2024. Authors, publishers, IIHA members, and other interested parties were asked to submit nominations for books published between 1 January 2022 and 25 August 2024 – and they did! We asked to tell us about books based on sound and accurate historical research in the field of intelligence history, which encourage further exploration of the historical past from antiquity to contemporary history. The works should make a significant contribution to the field, have convincing conclusions, and be written in a clear and effective prose.
All submissions definitely offered original, highly interesting new historical research, so it was not an easy decision. The committee decided to select one book for an honourable mention and one book as the winner.
Honourable Mention
Gérald Arboit. Napoléon et le renseignement [Napoleon and Intelligence]. Perrin 2022. 542 p.
The book offers a European, even global perspective on the topic, not only a French, national one. The global approach is new to the field of Napoleonic studies and intelligence research. The 14 chapters cover various topics, from the coup of 1799, election manipulations in Great Britain, special operations, to economic espionage. Arboit clearly shows Napoleon’s great interest in intelligence. The book is an original contribution to the field, but perhaps too detailed for non-experts.
Winner
Susan McCall Perlman. Contesting France: Intelligence and US Foreign Policy in the Early Cold War. Cambridge University Press 2023. 274 p.
The book shows the role of intelligence in shaping American perceptions of and policy towards France in the last days of WW2 and the early days of the Cold War. The book traces how French intelligence officers and government officials used their access to the US intelligence community to shape US policies according to their own agendas in post-War France. Perlman exposes the narrative of France as unreliable, weak, and under threat of internal Communist activities as overblown and a political strategy to further certain actors’ own aims, thereby going beyond simplistic views to analyse the complexity of US-French relations. Perlman very convincingly traces the French actors’ active role instead of showing them as victims of US intelligence. The book also reveals the vital role of intelligence in the late WW2 and early Cold War.
The winning book breaks new ground with its original perspective. Perlman discusses not only intelligence operations, but also their impact on policy. Her book is based on impressive archival work in two languages and various archives. Perhaps even more important, Perlman has a very accessible style of writing, her book and the argument are structured very clearly, and overall, the book offers a very engaging and even thrilling narrative.
Congratulations to Susan Perlman as the first winner of the Intelligence History Book Prize!