The shortlist for the 2012 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award were announced this month. They are:

Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson

The Hour Between Dog and Wolf: Risk-taking, Gut Feelings and the Biology of Boom and Bust by John Coates

Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power by Steve Coll

Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Biography by Walter Isaacson

What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Michael J. Sandel

Volcker: The Triumph of Persistence by William L. Silber
The winner will be announced November 1st.