Africa, a continent enormously rich in resources and people, remains the sick child of the modern world.

What happens to the billions of aid dollars given yearly? Why do trade rules that fail African countries also cost us at the checkout line? Why don’t the African people matter? In this engaging, jargon-free, reader-friendly guide, longtime aid worker and diplomat Giles Bolton offers his radical analysis of the problems Africa faces, drawing on years of first-hand experience on the ground. Bolton illustrates how the needs of African states exceed their budgets, leaving a gap for aid to fill; how the way Western aid is delivered renders it largely ineffective; and how trade rules and globalization have worked against African development.