Foundedby the brilliant, misanthropic inventor of dynamite, the Nobel Prize has for ahundred years claimed to identify the summit of human achievement. But whatexactly is the Nobel Institution? How does it choose its winners? Has it evermade a mistake? And why does the prize hold such importance? With deft insightand sparkling wit, Burton Feldman considers these questions while taking us ona fascinating tour of every aspect of Alfred Nobel's grand legacy: its founder,its aura, its fields of award—literature, physics, chemistry, medicine, peace,and economics—and its laureates' personalities and rivalries, as well as itsbiases, controversies, and blunders. <p> Thefirst comprehensive and critical survey ever written of the world's most famousaward, <em>The Nobel Prize</em> is a masterlysynthesis of biography, storytelling, and interdisciplinary analysis, rangingeasily and confidently from literature to science to politics to economics.This monumental, witty, and eloquent book will remain the definitive work onthe prize for decades to come, remarkable for its comprehensiveness, depth ofinsight, and never-failing capacity to surprise and entertain.</p>