The American Historical Association has bestowed upon Melvyn P. Leffler of UVA’s Miller Center of Public Affairs, the 2008 George Louis Beer Prize for outstanding historical writing in European international history since 1895 for his book, For the Soul of Mankind: The United States, the Soviet Union, and the Cold War.
In his book, Leffler discusses four significant Cold War episodes that brought American and Soviet leaders together to try to end hostilities. Leffler explains why each attempt ultimately failed.
According to a press release from the Miller Center, historian Jeremi Suri of the University of Wisconsin–Madison wrote in a recent review that ʺFor the Soul of Mankind is the best book published to date on the dynamics of the Sovietâ€American diplomatic relationship during the Cold War.ʺ
Leffler is no stranger to book prizes. In 1993, he was awarded the Bancroft Prize for A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War.
Leffler was the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from 1997 to 2001.
He is currently a Faculty Associate in the Miller Center’s Governing America in a Global Era (GAGE) program examining the history behind contemporary American foreign policy, domestic politics and their intersection.
Professor Melvyn Leffler has served as the President of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.
