Professor of Political Science William Taubman will receive the Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize for his biography of Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev on Dec. 6. The prize is awarded to the most important humanities or social science work in Russian, Eurasian and East European studies, according to the College's Web site.

The American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies (AAASS), the organization which gives the award, is dedicated to the expansion of knowledge about Russia, Central Eurasia and Eastern and Central Europe. Taubman explains that he was thrilled to hear from the Association. "I got a call from the executive director of AAASS a month or so ago," said Taubman. "I was very pleased, needless to say, to be recognized by my peers."

The book, "Khrushchev: The Man and His Era," was the first to incorporate information from sources which became available since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Taubman incorporated information from archives which had just recently been opened. He also talked to Khrushchev's family members and friends and visited places where Khrushchev lived and worked, according to the College's website. "I have always wanted to write books that would simultaneously appeal to a general reader and to scholars in my field," he said.

Taubman has received many other awards for the book including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize of the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations.