NoNonsense: International Development by Maggie Black

NoNonsense: International Development by Maggie Black

Development is often misunderstood and can embrace everything from large infrastructure projects to small-scale environmental initiatives. The idea can often mask confusion, contradiction, deceit and corruption. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to know what development actually is. It covers all the key themes and critically suggests ways to bring the poor and marginalised into the process.

Maggie Black has written numerous books including titles for OUP, UNICEF and OXFAM. She has worked as a consultant for a number of NGOs (UNICEF, Anti-Slavery International and WaterAid amonst others) and has written for the Guardian, Economist, and BC World Service.

Maggie Black is a writer whose previous work has focused on development issues affecting the poor and disadvantaged, such as histories of Oxfam and UNICEF (OUP 1992, 1996). This has proven to be an unexpectedly beneficial apprenticeship for a study of her great-grandfather's pioneering life in Victoria, with its themes of exclusion of local Indigenous peoples, development of farming practices, and the construction of a new civilization.