Books to campaign by (not Bono’s how-tos)

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa - by Dambisa Moyo

Probably no more compelling economic treatise has been written of late in less than 150 pages. Moyo traces the history of aid to Africa and illustrates its destructive power. A native of Zambia, she creates the Republic of Dongo as a fictitious archetype of an impoverished African country. Dongo's story brings from macro- to micro-level how a continent that in length is three times the distance from New York to Los Angeles could be so top-to-bottom devastated by the benevolence of other nations. Moyo believes the alternatives to aid are obvious, but she puts too much stock in China as an exemplary business partner, overlooking China's willingness to make under-the-table deals with corrupt, militant governments like Sudan at the expense of African laborers and human rights.