Every time I think I'm done with Jeffrey Sachs, some book review pulls me back in

Posted By Daniel W. Drezner Friday, July 18, 2008 - 12:50 AM Share

I have a review of Jeffrey Sachs' Commonwealth in today's Washington Post. Here's the punchline: In laying out this case, Sachs makes a significant contribution to a peculiar genre of nonfiction: the Great Global Scheme. Economists ranging from Hernando de Soto to Joseph Stiglitz have written in this genre, in which (typically) a great economist diagnoses the world's ills,...

This article has been archived. To continue reading, you must first log in.

If you already have an account on our website, click here to log in.
If you do not have an account, click here to create one.

Note: If you created your account before June 2009 you may need to create a new one.

EXPLORE:BOOK CLUB, ECONOMICS, JEFFREY SACHS

(2)

HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE

STUDENT

6:36 PM ET

July 18, 2008

Dan, Are there any other

Dan,

Are there any other idealistic authors (who want to make the world a better place) that you would recommend? Surely there must be at least one person in this 'peculiar genre' who talks some sense?

PHOCION

6:54 AM ET

July 22, 2008

Why must there be a person

Why must there be a person capable of talking sense in this 'peculiar genre'? The subject matter is so broad that it becomes unavoidable that an author will make several grave errors revolving around issues outside of his particular discipline or area of interest. Or, they will simply refuse to take those ares into account, a la Jared Diamond thus rendering there arguements/perscriptives DOA.