The Book Prize Index

Thieves of State: Why Corruption Threatens Global Security

Sarah Chayes

A former advisor to the Joint Chiefs of Staff explains the common role of corruption in today's international uprisings, tracing corruption since the 1990s while arguing that corrupt governments have been largely responsible for extreme acts of rebellion.

Politics & GovernmentPolitics & Government · medium confidencePolitics & Government81 signalsLlm Classifier: Politics & Government -> Politics & GovernmentTopic Classifier: Intelligence, Secrecy & Surveillance -> Politics & GovernmentKeyword Classifier: World History -> World HistoryIntelligence, Secrecy & SurveillanceCrime, Policing & Violence

Award History

1 wins · 2 total

AwardYearResultCategory / Notes
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Current InterestMajor2015WinnerSecondary source
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionMajor2016LonglistOfficial source
View all award history (2)
Experimental book profileGenerated by GPT-5.4 nano · may contain inaccuracies

This is an unverified interpretation of the catalog description, offered as an opt-in discovery experiment—not as bibliographic fact.

  1. 01 Central figures

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  2. 02 Central places

    None extracted with sufficient confidence.

  3. 03 Suggested argument

    Corruption is a common underlying driver of today’s international uprisings, and corrupt governments have been largely responsible for extreme acts of rebellion.

    Model confidence 72%

  4. 04 Reading orientation

    38 / 100 academic

    Serious trade

    An estimate of intended readership and scholarly apparatus—not quality or importance.

Confidence percentages are the model's own estimates. Profile confidence: 62%.