Freedom from Want,The Remarkable Success Story of BRAC, the Global Grassroots Organization That’s Winning the Fight Against Poverty, a gripping account of how the practical intellect of one person and the trail-blazing activities of an organization have been able to achieve something close to a miracle. — Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in Economics “.Author Ian Smillie

The Bottom Billion: Why the Poorest Countries are Failing and What Can Be Done About It is a 2007 book by Professor Paul Collier exploring the reason why impoverished countries fail to progress despite international aid and support. In the book Collier argues that there are many countries whose residents have experienced little, if any, income growth over the 1980s and 1990s. On his reckoning, there are just under 60 such economies, home to almost 1 billion people.

Leaving Microsoft to Change the World, An Entrepreneur’s Odyessey to Educate the World’s Concern, by John Wood Founder of Room to Read. “Our future goal is more ambitious than ever: to enable more than 10 million children in over a dozen developing world countries to maximize their educational experiences by 2015.”—-John Wood Founder of R2R. We are proud to share that through the end of 2009 Room to Read has…
Established: 9,220 libraries
Constructed: 1,129 schools
Published: 433 local language book titles
Printed: 4.1 million local books
Donated: 3.3 million English language books
Supported: 8,707 girls’ educations
Benefitted: 4,066,775 children!!

My Road to Deschapelles, by Grant Grant Mellion.The Road to Deschapelles is the story of an extraordinary couple who, in 1954, founded Hospital Albert Schweitzer in Deschapelles in central Haiti and where they and the hospital have cared for the most needy and the sick for more than 40 years.   For over forty years Gwen Grant Mellon has lived and worked in Deschapelles, Haiti, where she and Dr. Larimer Mellon built and actively operated Hopital Albert Schweitzer. In these pages she tells her story of courage, inspiration, and humanitarian service. She tells us how she and Larry Mellon met, grew, changed their lives, and established a life-saving landmark for the benefit of the 216,000 people in Haiti’s Artibonite Valley. After the 2010 earth quake, was one of the only two hospitals still standing in Hait!!.

Song of HAITI, The Lives of Dr. Larimer and Gwen Mellon at the Albert Scheitzer Hospital of Deschapelles by Barry Paris.
“On Wednesday, October 18, 2000, Gwendolyn Grant Mellon will travel from Deschapelles Haiti and the Hopital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) which she founded with her husband, Dr. Larimer Mellon almost 50 years ago, to receive the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Award for Humanitarianism. The award is timely due to the recent release of “Song of Haiti,” a true-life love story, adventure story and biography by Barry Paris describing in compelling detail the lives of Dr. Larimer and Gwen Mellon and their legacy of remarkable service amidst the exotic voodoo atmosphere of Haiti.” HAS was started as a small hospital clinic and has grown into a medical center, a model worthy of duplication in other developing countries.  NO ONE WAS TURNED AWAY!

GIVING, How each of Us can Change the World, — Bill Clinton. “Bill Clinton’s Giving is an inspiring look at how individual endeavors can save lives and solve problems, and it offers compelling examples of both citizen and corporate activism at work in the world today.–OPRAH”

The Wisdom of Whores, bureaucrats, brothels and the business of AIDS by elizabeth pisani. Elizabeth Pisani is the director of Ternyata Ltd., a public health consultancy based in London, UK. She is formerly a journalist and currently an epepidemiologistbest known for her work on HIV/AIDS, in particular for her controversial book The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS.

A LAND LIKE NONE YOU KNOW, Awe and wonder in Burma on the road to Mandalay, Patrick Forsyth. This is a lively and engaging account of his journey. The author’s sincerity and affinity with the many common people he meets on his unusual journey shines through.

Welcome to the Bangkok Slaughterhouse, The Battle for Human Dignity in Bangkok’s Bleakest Slums, Father Joe Maier. For twenty-five years, Father Joe Maier, a Catholic priest, has lived and worked in Bangkok’s bleakest slums, establishing more than thirty schools, five shelters for street kids, and the city’s first AIDS hospice and home for AIDS mothers with AIDS kids – working with and in opposition to authority, while being threatened and shot at and, ultimately, praised by even his enemies. Here he tells the stories of the poorest of Thailand’s poor.

Three Cups of Tea, is a New York Times bestselling book by Greg Mortenson, one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.

Another Quiet American, Stories of Life in Laos —Brett Dakin.This is a first-hand account of a poor country struggling with economic crisis, political instability, and a legacy of war. Above all, it is the story of a young American coming to terms with his country’s role in the world at the beginning of a new century.”No other personal account of contemporary Laos is as informative, under-the-surface, and well-written as Another Quiet American. By paying close attention to the Lao and falang (foreign) lives around him, Dakin makes Vientiane jump off the printed page.” Joe Cummings, author of Lonely Planet Laos

Stalking the Elephant Kings – In Search of Laos by Christopher Kremmer. Twenty years after the Indochina wars, Christopher Kremmer visited Laos. Stalking the Elephant Kings tells the story of a Southeast Asian revolution and its tragic consequences. Based on extensive travel inside Laos and exhaustive research abroad, the book reveals new details of the fate of one of Asia’s oldest monarchies. A must for both student and traveler, it provides a contemporary portrait of a country which will play a key role in the future of Indochina, as well as a glimpse of its secret history.

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan by Mike Bryan and Greg Mortenson.By 2009, Mortenson and his foundation, the Central Asia Institute, have established more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, most built especially for girls. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and achieved celebrity status in the world of philanthropy on the strength of his mega-bestselling book about his endeavors, THREE CUPS OF TEA….More memorably, he provides stirring examples of how tolerance can diffuse aggression by sharing a few of the success stories from the more than 50,000 students he has helped to educate.