Submit your nominations for ISI’s Conservative Book of the Year award

ISI’s Conservative Book of the Year award recognizes thoughtful books that contribute to the rich debate about important conservative ideas. The winner receives a $10,000 cash prize along with ISI’s Paolucci Book Award.

 

What’s your choice for this year’s best conservative book?

 

The ISI community is filled with thoughtful readers, and each year, one of your suggested authors receives our coveted Paolucci Book Award and a $10,000 cash prize.

So, which new title has caught your eye in 2023? Is it a book you’ve been discussing with your colleagues? Is it one you’ve recommended to your students?

Fill out the simple form below and help us identify the best recent conservative book.

To be considered for the Conservative Book of the Year award, a book must:

  • Be a work of nonfiction that was published in and carries a copyright date of 2023. (It can be any book published so far in 2023—or any book set to be published by Dec. 31, 2023.)
  • Advance our understanding of conservative principles.
  • Make an outstanding contribution to the literature on the subject
  • Avoid factional or partisan argumentation

 

   
Recent winners of ISI’s Conservative Book of the Year award include Dan Mahoney for The Statesman as Thinker, Victor Davis Hanson for The Dying Citizen, Wilfred M. McClay for Land of Hope, Yoram Hazony for The Virtue of Nationalism, and Rod Dreher for The Benedict Option.

About the Award

ISI honors the Conservative Book of the Year with the Paolucci Book Award. The award is named in memory of Henry and Anne Paolucci, distinguished scholars, teachers, and writers who exemplified the ideal of the public intellectual.
 
The award winner’s lecture is routinely aired on C-SPAN’s Book TV. See links below for previous broadcasts. Past winners of the award include:

Award Requirements

To be considered for the Conservative Book of the Year award, a book must:

  • Be a work of nonfiction that was published in and carries a copyright date of 2023 (titles published between October 31 and December 31, 2023, are also eligible)
  • Advance our understanding of conservative principles
  • Make an outstanding contribution to the literature of the subject
  • Avoid factional or partisan argumentation

About Henry and Anne Paolucci

Henry Paolucci
Henry Paolucci, PhD (1921–1999)

Henry Paolucci was a prolific scholar of classical politics and literature. He was a professor of government and politics at St. John’s University and also taught ancient Greek and Roman history at Iona College, Brooklyn College, and the City College of New York, as well as a graduate course on Dante and medieval culture at Columbia University. Dr. Paolucci wrote or edited more than 30 books and was a frequent contributor to national magazines and newspapers. He is well known for his studies of the political thought of Aristotle, Saint Augustine, Machiavelli, and Hegel.

The founding president of the Walter Bagehot Council on National Sovereignty, Dr. Paolucci served for many years as vice chairman of the Conservative Party of New York State. In 1964 he ran as the Conservative candidate for the U.S. Senate against Democrat Robert F. Kennedy and the Republican incumbent, Kenneth Keating.

Anne Paolucci
Anne Paolucci, PhD (1926–2012)

Anne Paolucci displayed a wide range of intellectual interests in her long and distinguished scholarly career. Born in Rome, she settled with her family in New York at the age of eight and went on to earn a PhD from Columbia University. Dr. Paolucci taught English at the City College of New York before joining the faculty of St. John’s University as its first University Research Professor. A prolific writer on Renaissance drama, dramatic theory, Hegelian aesthetics, Spenser, Dante, Machiavelli, and classical and Shakespearean tragedy, she was perhaps best known for her work on the plays of Pirandello and Edward Albee.

Dr. Paolucci was the founding president of the Council on National Literatures. For nearly a decade, she served on the National Council on the Humanities, and she became the first woman to chair the Board of ­Trustees of the City University of New York (CUNY).

Submit nominations here