Best Books of the Year
Menu

The Orwell Foundation · award year

The Orwell Prize 2011

The 2011 Orwell Prize went to The Rule of Law by Tom Bingham. 6 books made the shortlist and 16 the longlist.

Winner

  1. The Rule of Law by Tom Binghamsource (opens in a new tab)

Shortlist

  1. Death to the Dictator!: Witnessing Iran’s election and the Crippling of the Islamic Republic by Afsaneh Moqadamsource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Hitch-22 by Christopher Hitchenssource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Let Our Fame Be Great: Journeys among the defiant people of the Caucasus by Oliver Bulloughsource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Supermac: The Life of Harold Macmillan by D. R. Thorpesource (opens in a new tab)
  5. The Betrayal by Helen Dunmoresource (opens in a new tab)

Longlist

  1. Chasing the Devil: The Search for Africa’s Fighting Spirit by Tim Butchersource (opens in a new tab)
  2. Decline & Fall: Diaries 2005–2010 by Chris Mullinsource (opens in a new tab)
  3. Enough is Enough: How to Build a New Republic by Fintan O'Toolesource (opens in a new tab)
  4. Ernest Gellner: An Intellectual Biography by John A. Hallsource (opens in a new tab)
  5. Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism by Natasha Waltersource (opens in a new tab)
  6. Red Plenty by Francis Spuffordsource (opens in a new tab)
  7. The Hare With Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance by Edmund de Waalsource (opens in a new tab)
  8. We Are a Muslim, Please by Zaiba Maliksource (opens in a new tab)
  9. Whatever It Takes: The Real Story of Gordon Brown and New Labour by Steve Richardssource (opens in a new tab)
  10. Why The West Rules – For Now The Patterns of History and what they reveal about the Future by Ian Morrissource (opens in a new tab)

About the The Orwell Prize

Book prizes only: the combined Book Prize (category Book) to 2018, then the Political Writing and Political Fiction book prizes from 2019; journalism, blog and special prizes are out of scope. Year is the prize year the Foundation uses (winner announced in June). Membership and levels come from the shortlist, finalist and longlist blocks on each year's winner page; the site's 'finalists' are recorded as Shortlist. Longlists are published for 2008-2021 only, and 2006-2007 show a shortlist only. Dozens of older book pages carry a stray '2010 Book prize long list' header, so those rows cite the year's winner page, which lists them, instead of the book page. Duplicate pages for the same book (Frontline 2006; Whatever It Takes and Enough is Enough 2011) count once. Translators are not credited on the source pages.

Organization: The Orwell Foundation. Years are award years, which can differ from publication years. Official site (opens in a new tab)

The most recommended books of 2011

Shares the most books with