Book Review: The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time

Jeff rey Sachs, an economist with a passion and experienced global view, makes a compelling call to action to bring an end to extreme poverty worldwide by the year 2025. He makes a strong case that not only is this goal within our reach, but that Americans have a vested interest in seeing the rest of the world in a stable economic situation. Based on years of experience in impoverished countries and his work as the director of the Columbia Earth Institute at Columbia University, Sachs makes a direct comparison between poverty, government instability, and an ongoing threat to the safety of the United States. He points out that any time a country is impoverished and its population lacking in education, the citizenry is more likely to be susceptible to the radical ideas and actions of terrorists groups. Giving the necessary support to begin the process of becoming self-suffi cient will do more to alleviate the danger of further threat to our country than can be accomplished through military means alone. Th roughout the book, Sachs illustrates the importance of education for the successful development of a nation. John Dewey, in his pedagogic creed, states, " Education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness ; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction " (Dworkin, 1959, p.30). Sachs clearly defi nes primary education as a basic necessity for all peoples of the world. In numerous examples he points out the need for education as critical