Silicon Valley exposé makes Business Book of the Year longlist

Antonio Garcia Martinez's Silicon Valley exposé Chaos Monkeys (Ebury) has been longlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.

The former Twitter and Facebook employee's "no-holds-barred" account was today revealed (8th August) as one among a total 15 longlisted works in contention for the £30,000 prize, covering a range of topics, from globalisation to inequality and corruption, and spanning countries from America to the emerging economies of Brazil and China.

Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark (Ecco Press) tells the story of online marketplace Alibaba, one of the world's highest valued companies, in the context of China’s momentous economic and social changes, while Brazillionaires: The Godfathers of Modern Brazil (Profile) by journalist Alex Cuadros examines the relationship between the Brazilian state and its super-rich elite.

University presses have a notable presence on the longlist, in particular Princeton University Press which has three books on the longlist: Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy by New York Times columnist Robert H Frank, explaining why the rich underestimate the importance of luck in their success; The Rise and Fall of American Growth: The U.S. Standard of Living since the Civil War by Robert J Gordon, challenging the view economic growth can continue unabated; and The Curse of Cash by Kenneth S. Rogoff, arguing it's time to get rid of paper money for good.

University of Chicago Press is represented by Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Note Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World by Deirdre N. McCloskey, and The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press by What Works: Gender Equality by Design by Iris Bohnet, which looks at the benefits businesses can reap by debiasing their organisations.

The Makers and Takers: The Rise of Finance and the Fall of American Business (Crown Business) by Rana Foroohar, meanwhile, argues the "financialisation" of America is ruining it - pointing the finger at the "cosy relationship" between lawmakers and financiers - while also focused on the blurred the lines between governmental and corporate power is The Profiteers: Bechtel and the Men Who Built the World (Simon & Schuster) by Sally Denton, telling the story of the Bechtel family dynasty and the empire they've controlled since the construction of the Hoover Dam.

On a more optimistic note, The Fix: How Nations Survive and Thrive in a World in Decline by Jonathan Tepperman (Tim Duggan Books) celebrates "unsung individuals' bold and innovative attempts against all odds and expectations to solve some of the important problems governments have struggled with for decades".

Two Bloomsbury titles The Man Who Knew: The Life and Times of Alan Greenspan by Sebastian Mallaby, and The 100-Year Life: Living and Working in an Age of Longevity by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott have made the longlsit, along with Age of Discovery: Navigating the Risks and Rewards of Our New Renaissance by Ian Goldin and Chris Kutarna (St Martin's Press) and The Smartest Places on Earth: Why Rustbelts Are the Emerging Hotspots of Global Innovation by Antoine Van Agtmael and Fred Bakker (PublicAffairs), which round off the list.

The six-strong shortlist, based on what is "the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues", according to the FT, will be announced on 7th September 2016.

The £30,000 prize will ultimately be awarded to the winning author at a dinner in London on 22nd November. Each shortlist runner-up will receive £10,000.