The book was in fine condition, but it took over a month for them to ship it to me. I needed it for a class and was expecting it in about two weeks like the site said. The other two books I ordered at the same time came two weeks after the order, but this book took twice as long.
decent book
This book has an idea that is generally repeated over and over, send more aid to poverty stricken nations. That approach is interesting an cannot be disproved but for that matter it cannot be proven to work. Paul Collier's The Bottom Billion or Guns, Wars, and Votes are a more balanced approach to ending world poverty.
Jeffery Sachs seems like a perfectly intelligent man full of passion and legitamate concern for the severely impoverished persons throughout the world. This book is quite useful particularly the chapters detailing Sachs travels throughout the world assisting various governments with their economic problems. He has much correct about the economic problems facing the developing world, such as his notion that poverty cannot and should not be treated with a one size fits all approach and that there are no magic bullets when it comes to dealing with the problems of the world.
As I read this book, I couldn't help but think of Hannah Teeter-U.S. Olympic Snowboarder who won medals in Torino and Vancouver and the piece NBC did on her during the Olympics about her various charitable causes in Africa and other parts of the world including helping to provide clean drinking water and other facilities for a village in Kenya. Weren't various international organizations aware of these problems throughout Africa and other areas for years if not decades and it takes private citizens just to provide a well for basic drinking water and Sachs demands we give these agencies more money...uh huh yeah.
However Sachs solution of increasing foreign aid through the UN, IMF, World Bank, and other organizations would seem to be no solution at all. Need I remind Mr. Sachs of the numerous occasions in which the UN and its various agencies have let us down before including various genocides and other relief efforts. Pardon me if I don't have the greatest confidence in the international governing structure. Furthermore, what are we to do, if this big idea does not work? Another quibble is the notion of poverty, my mom makes about 14,000 a year...under Sachs definition we would only be moderately impoverished because we can afford basic needs and an occasional splurge, but I would certainly not call it comfortable knowing that if one thing goes wrong, maybe we won't be able to afford food...government assistance isn't that great.
That being said, Jeff Sachs does get many things right beyond a liberal or conservative bias. The lead-up to the idea is great because it provides a framework that allows the Western reader to see poverty as a worldwide concern that has a stake in the life of even the most jaded wealth possessed Western consumer. The so called solution though, needs work.
This book arrived quickly, securely wrapped, and in like-new condition. I couldn't be happier.
A landmark exploration of the way out of extreme poverty for the world-s poorest citizens
Among the most eagerly anticipated books of any year, this landmark exploration of prosperity and poverty distills the life work of an economist Time calls one of the world-s 100 most influential people. Sachs-s aim is nothing less than to deliver a big picture of how societies emerge from poverty. To do so he takes readers in his footsteps, explaining his work in Bolivia, Russia, India, China, and Africa, while offering an integrated set of solutions for the interwoven economic, political, environmental, and social problems that challenge the poorest countries. Marrying passionate storytelling with rigorous analysis and a vision as pragmatic as it is fiercely moral, The End of Poverty is a truly indispensable work.
based on 136 reviews
