Books written by staff that don't necessarily deal with their time at the Bank
Memoirs of an Arabian Princess by
Sayyida Salme lived a remarkable life in remarkable times and told the tale more than a century ago in her Memoirs of an Arabian Princess, the first book commercially published by an Arab woman. She was born in 1824 as a princess on the island of Zanzibar, daughter of the great Omani Sayyid Said bin Sultan and his Circassian slave Djilfidan. By the time she published her Memoirs in German in 1886, she had crossed from Arab royalty amidst harem politics to the challenges of raising a family as a single mother in a foreign land. Her experience breached boundaries across color and culture lines, religions, countries, and hemispheres. Her exceptional path gave her exceptional insights that are still relevant today. Her experiences reflect a determination and self-expression still fascinate readers and motivate readers across the world.Not long after the original publication of the Memoirs, two translations appeared in 1888 and 1907. No longer copyrighted, these translations have been reprinted in various editions that are easily and cheaply available. But no matter the packaging, they all suffer from the same serious flaw: They are not true to the original. In an effort to respect the author and uphold contemporary standards of authenticity, this new edition presents an accurate translation in readable English fit for the modern age. Written with great care by her great-great-granddaughter, it seeks to revive her original narrative in her authentic voice. Through these Memoirs, we have much to learn about Sayyida Salme's time and place in history - and about ourselves.
Magda, Standing by
When her father pulls her out of high school to care for her invalid mother and little brother, sixteen-year-old Magda is devastated-but the greater challenge is saving her family in the face of a war and pandemic. In 1916, the world is at war, even if America has not yet joined the effort. But for Magda, the growing hostility her German immigrant family faces hits close to home. Despite her domestic obligations, Magda persists with her education, determined to find an independent role for herself. Faced with the mounting crises of the war and the Spanish flu, Magda seeks the knowledge and strength to try to protect those she loves most. Standing up to a war and pandemic, traditions and expectations, Magda embarks on a journey of self-discovery and resilience that leads her back to embracing her family and caring for a wider community.
Adventures in Dystopia by
ADVENTURES IN DYSTOPIA plots the ups and downs in the improbably interconnected lives of six individuals-three rich, three poor-spanning three continents.Please meet: KORO, an illiterate housekeeper trying to keep body and soul together in post-war Côte d'Ivoire, while being stalked by a sadistic gangster. She works for COLIN, a shy conservationist, dedicated to saving one of West Africa's last remaining parks, while suppressing painful memories with booze. He supports SUNIL, a clever but dirt-poor Delhi teenager, hoping to find a wife, become India's next billionaire, and solve the mystery of his mother's death. He is scamming KELLY, a young American evangelist saving souls in the slums of India, blogging along the way. Her aunt is MONIQUE, an up-tight development banker, dead set on a promotion and convincing everyone that she gives a crap about the poor. She has the misfortune to meet JUAN, a taxi driver, petty thief, and wife-beater, hoping to keep his son from following the same path.
The Benevolent World Banker by
In this political thriller, economist David Pedersen moves from Demark to Washington, D.C. to join the World Bank. He is driven by two burning ambitions: to fight poverty and to build a family better than the one from his childhood.The World Bank brings genuine rewards, frustrating challenges, and the unexpected; while in West Africa, he is held hostage by Islamists. With harrowing choices and surprising twists, pursuing an ethical, happy life becomes a balancing act including passionate love, exciting sexual experimentation, tragic loss, culture wars, and domestic terror making him run to save his life. But is there a way back to be with the woman he loves?
Aid Effectiveness in Africa by
A significant contribution to the ongoing debate on aid effectiveness, Aid Effectiveness in Africa starts from the premise that money alone will not bring sustained development to Africa. With grounding in years of experience and fieldwork, Phyllis R. Pomerantz examines the relationship between aid donors and recipients and the extent to which trust is present in today's aid environment. Pomerantz concludes that there are serious gaps, created in part by a striking lack of knowledge of the African context and culture on the part of the donors, and troublesome institutional constraints that make it difficult for aid agencies to change the way they operate. Joining the urgent call to transform aid agencies and increase aid effectiveness, and eschewing pat solutions and simple formulae, the book offers realistic recommendations and provides an eloquent argument for further, far-reaching reform.
Leadership Selection in the Major Multilaterals by
Leadership selection in the major global economic organizations produced unprecedented levels of public conflict during the 1990s. The convention that awards the IMF managing directorship to a European and the World Bank presidency to an American sparked conflict between the United States and Europe as well as growing discontent on the part of Japan and the developing countries. At the WTO, successive conflicts demonstrate deeper shortcomings in governance as membership expands rapidly and consensus decision making fails. Protracted efforts to choose new heads of these increasingly important organizations have undermined their legitimacy and distracted members from their core agendas. This selection process and its flaws provide a central theme for the analysis and prescriptions presented in this study, which focuses on the major international financial institutions (IFIs) and other global and regional multilaterals. Miles Kahler looks at the sources of conflict and presents recommendations for reform: in the short run, changes in the process, such as the use of search committees; in the long run, the dismantling of the US-European convention at the IFIs and changes in representation at the WTO. The author's diagnosis and policy recommendations have important implications for leadership selection in other regional and global organizations.
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