2015
Honorable Mention
The Sino-Soviet Alliance: An International History
Honorable Mention: Austin Jersild
Title: The Sino-Soviet Alliance: An International History (UNC Press)
Through an impressive and multi-dimensional archival exploration, and novel re-framing of the system of komandirovka as a transnational institution, Austin Jersild’s engaging book, The Sino-Soviet Alliance, presents a new twist on the practice of intra-Soviet-Socialist bloc exchange. It posits an interesting set of arguments about Soviet imperial identity, newly applied to the relationship with China, and about how this imperial identity was constrained at the working- and technical-levels by Moscow’s own East-Central European “vassals” (who were not that vassal-like) as well as nuances of triangular diplomacy with the U.S.
Winner: Oscar Sanchez-Sibony