Will I love The Divide?

If you're looking for a book that will fundamentally change your understanding of the modern world, this is it. I loved The Divide because it provides the "why" behind the staggering inequality we see in the world today. It replaces vague notions of misfortune with a concrete, historically-grounded analysis of power. It’s a challenging, necessary, and ultimately empowering book that will leave you with a deeper understanding of how our world truly works.

The divide here is not within a country but across countries, in particular between rich and poor countries, which are often referred to as ‘The Global South’.

Hickel argues that the activities by those in rich countries designed to ‘help’ poorer countries have exactly the opposite of their claimed effect. Rather than being the mechanism by which poverty is alleviated the policies they advocate for these poor countries are really the causes of their continuing poverty.

He writes: "Today British apologists defend colonialism in India and interventions in China on the basis that it brought ‘development’ to these regions. But… show more.