This is How They Tell Me the World Ends (Bloomsbury 2021), Nicole Perlroth’s alarming look at the world of underground cyberarms, has been named the 2021 Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year.

“Digital sabotage,” Perlroth said after her win, “is the immediate threat that we can do something about—if we wake up. The goal of this book is to wake people up.”

The book draws on nearly a decade of the author’s cybersecurity and digital espionage reporting for the New York Times, where she worked with hundreds of sources including hackers and government officials.

On December 1, Perlroth left the Times to join a new committee with the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“Maybe one day I will hopefully get back to journalism,” she said, “but in the meantime, the threat is too great for me to keep doing what I was doing.”

Nicole Perlroth has written a book that is more than just a timely wake-up call to the profound implications of the arms race among hackers, cybercriminals, businesses, and national governments.

It is an alarming book, one in which the author makes a granular and matter-of-fact case demonstrating how vulnerable global computer systems have become and an urgent plea for specific and systematic action.

The Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award is given annually to the book that provides “the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues.” Each of this year’s shortlisted authors receives £10,000.