A Princeton School of Public and International Affairs faculty member was awarded the Council on Foreign Relations’ top book prize, while a SPIA political historian contributed a chapter to a forthcoming book on reducing racial injustice, economic inequality, and poverty.

Gary J. Bass, the William P. Boswell Professor of World Politics of Peace and War and a professor of politics and international affairs, received CFR’s 2024 Arthur Ross Book Award Gold Medal for “Judgment at Tokyo: World War II on Trial and the Making of Modern Asia” (Alfred A. Knopf), his massive, definitive history of the Nuremberg trials’ lesser-known Asian counterpart.

The Ross Award annually recognizes books published in the previous year that make an outstanding contribution to the understanding of international relations.

The nod from CFR is the latest in a lengthy string of accolades for “Judgment at Tokyo,” which earned glowing reviews and landed on numerous year-end best-of lists as 2023 came to a close. It was named one of the 10 best books of the year by The Washington Post, one of the 12 essential nonfiction books of the year by The New Yorker, a best book of the year by The Economist, and one of the 100 notable books of the year by The New York Times, among other recognitions.

Bass is now the only two-time winner of the Arthur Ross Book Award. His similarly well-reviewed “The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide” (Alfred A. Knopf), a Pulitzer Prize finalist, took home the prize in 2014. Bass will be honored at an award ceremony and discussion in New York in December.

Julian E. Zelizer, the Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs, contributed the chapter “‘Little Brother Is Watching Big Brother’: The Flawed Media Lens on Policing and Racism” to “Creating Justice in a Multiracial Democracy: New Will for Evidence-Based Policies That Work” (Teachers College Press), scheduled for publication later this month.

Zelizer’s piece builds on the historic recommendations of the Kerner Commission in 1968 to diversify newsrooms and create incentives for better coverage of policing and racism.

“My chapter in this book explores some of the challenges that mission has encountered despite substantial progress since the 1970s,” he said. “After exploring the history of how technology allowed for increased scrutiny of how some officers engaged in unjustified violence against Black Americans, I turn to crucial dynamics, such as the commercial bias toward sensationalism in the contemporary press and a low attention span throughout the entire media ecosystem to understand why a greater number of images and videos of abuse have not resulted in bolder reform.”

Zelizer is a prolific author and editor. He has written numerous books and book chapters and published many dozens of commentaries. His next book, “In Defense of Partisanship,” will be published in January as part of Columbia University’s “Columbia Global Reports” series.