Each of our shortlisted books changes our minds on something important, and does so compellingly and with a sense of urgency, peering beneath surface appearances, encrusted as they are with apologias, cliches and mendacities. Taking in reportage, essays, historical writing and economics, and ranging from the earliest human cultures to hugely important contemporary problems, they all rise to the challenge of our times which is not to speak truth to power, but to tell the truth about power. 

David Edgerton, Chair of Judges, Orwell Prize for Political Writing 2022