Lords Of Poverty: The Power, Prestige, And Corruption Of The International Aid Business

This is a rousing condemnation of the national and multilateral aid programs of the past forty years. But in focusing on the alleged misdeeds of the bureaucracy of development aid, rather than evaluating the effectiveness of the economic assistance programs, the journalist author lets pass an opportunity to write a more significant work. The allegations regarding the expense-account high life of officials at the U.N., the World Bank and elsewhere are deeply disturbing if true. Yet the reader's outrage is tempered by the author's failure to outline a plan for reform of the system and by his skimpy analysis of how to meet the continuing urgent needs of the less-developed countries.