2021 Recipient

The Kulczycki Book Prize in Polish Studies (formerly the Orbis Book Prize), established in 1996 and sponsored by the Kulczycki family, former owners of the Orbis Books Ltd. of London, England, is awarded annually for the best book in any discipline, on any aspect of Polish affairs, published in the previous calendar year.

Winner: Molly Pucci
Title: Security Empire: The Secret Police in Communist Eastern Europe (Yale University Press)

Molly Pucci’s Security Empire is a work of exemplary social history, reconstructing the lives and communities of everyday people who signed up to build communism only to emerge as the rank-and-file of the infamous state security apparatuses of communist Central and Eastern Europe. By setting Poland in conversation with Czechoslovakia and East Germany, Pucci sets herself an audacious task of comparative history, and she achieves a remarkable, richly sourced result. Security Empire carries insights for a broad readership, extending far beyond the field of Polish studies, into abuses of state security apparatuses that persist through the present day.

Honorable Mention: Adam Teller