Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution--and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it--occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? Why didn't industrialization make the whole world rich--and why did it make large parts of the world even poorer? In A Farewell to Alms, Gregory Clark tackles these profound questions and suggests a new and provocative way in which culture--not exploitation, geography, or resources--explains the wealth, and the poverty, of nations. Countering the prevailing theory that the Industrial Revolution was sparked by the sudden development of stable political, legal, and economic institutions in seventeenth-century Europe, Clark shows that such institutions existed long before industrialization. He argues instead that these institutions gradually led to deep cultural changes by encouraging people to abandon hunter-gatherer instincts-violence, impatience, and economy of effort-and adopt economic habits-hard work, rationality, and education. The problem, Clark says, is that only societies that have long histories of settlement and security seem to develop the cultural characteristics and effective workforces that enable economic growth. For the many societies that have not enjoyed long periods of stability, industrialization has not been a blessing. Clark also dissects the notion, championed by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, that natural endowments such as geography account for differences in the wealth of nations. A brilliant and sobering challenge to the idea that poor societies can be economically developed through outside intervention, A Farewell to Alms may change the way global economic history is understood.

6 Love Covers a Multitude of Sins: Atoning Almsgiving in 1 Peter 4:8 and Its Early Christian Reception -- 7. Merciful Practice Is Good as Repentance for Sin: Resurrection, Atonement, and Care for the Poor in Second-Century Christianity -- 8. By Alms and Faith Sins Are Purged Away: Almsgiving and Atonement in Early Christian Scriptural Exegesis -- Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Index.

Illuminating the class issues that shaped the racial uplift movement, Toure Reed explores the ideology and policies of the national, New York, and Chicago Urban Leagues during the first half of the twentieth century. Reed argues that racial uplift in the Urban League reflected many of the class biases pervading contemporaneous social reform movements, resulting in an emphasis on behavioral, rather than structural, remedies to the disadvantages faced by Afro-Americans. Reed traces the Urban League's ideology to the famed Chicago School of Sociology. The Chicago School offered Leaguers powerful scientific tools with which to foil the thrust of eugenics. However, Reed argues, concepts such as ethnic cycle and social disorganization and reorganization led the League to embrace behavioral models of uplift that reflected a deep circumspection about poor Afro-Americans and fostered a preoccupation with the needs of middle-class blacks. According to Reed, the League's reform endeavors from the migration era through World War II oscillated between projects to "adjust" or even "contain" unacculturated Afro-Americans and projects intended to enhance the status of the Afro-American middle class. Reed's analysis complicates the mainstream account of how particular class concerns and ideological influences shaped the League's vision of group advancement as well as the consequences of its endeavors.

Born to Beg! The Challenge of Alms-transaction in Northern Nigeria By: Dr. ‘Tunji Adewuyi Born to Beg! The Challenge of Alms-transaction in Northern Nigeria is a narration of street begging which has become pandemic in Nigeria. Begging comes in two broad forms. The first is linked to poverty as a cause and consequence, is a feature of all societies and responds to poverty-alleviating measures. The second which is the focus of this book is cultural and “expressed in terms of legal rights or of established customs which have the essential binding characteristics of law”. Beginning from childhood and continuing into adulthood, beggars of this category are a huge demographic category and considerable social problem in Nigeria. This book has explored this problem and come up with suggestions that may halt new entrants into begging and bring street beggars to respectability.

In this valuable article you find the real meaning of Zakat “Alms giving” . What is the high wisdom behind this pillar? Why the Almighty Al'lah, through His Divine books, has ordered his people to do it? Actually there is a high benefit through giving Zakat, going according to this pillar affects positively man spirit and the whole society . all that has been elucidated by the Humane Scholar Mohammed Amin Sheikho. Can we bring love, brotherhood and collaboration to the whole society and nation? If yes, then how ? How spite, hatred, aggressiveness and such bad behaviors can be wipe away from the society and from the heart of mankind? Nowadays, societies suffer from many economic crises. The Almighty Merciful God hasn’t left people to suffer and face such difficulties , actually He Has sent them the life path “sublime statute” if they go according to it they will absolutely get rid of all these sufferings. In addition to that you find In this important logical article the right way of distributing Zakat “Alms giving” which makes people and societies live in good prosperous brotherly life, away from any economic crisis. You also find: How the percentage of Al-Zakat has been calculated and derived from the verses of God's Noble Book by the scholar Sheikho. Finally, there is a short, valuable explanation of Alms and fast breaking, that will help you understand why the Almighty God has ordered his all-obedient people (the rich and the poor) to pay alms during the month of Ramadan (fasting month).