A Brilliant Polemic

On the dust jacket of this book, Stephen Lewis writes, “This is an extraordinarily riveting book. The anecdotes are heart-wrenching; the analysis is trenchant, principled, uncompromising. I never read a book in one sitting: I read Damned Nations in one sitting, and I regretted that it came to an end.”

Hmm. It is no secret that Stephen Lewis is a past master at mobilizing hyperbole and sending it into battle. Reading a book in one sitting depends not just on its content, but its length and the amount of time you have available. I too have never read a book in one sitting, but I did read this one in two, and I have certainly never done that. Damned Nations is all that Stephen Lewis says it is, and more.

Samantha Nutt, a medical doctor, has worked on the front lines of humanitarian assistance in some of the world’s worst calamities: Somalia, Darfur, Iraq, Afghanistan, Haiti, the Congo, Liberia. She is a founder of the well-respected...