Robert Pollin's Contours of Descent deserves wide reading. This is a book sophisticated enough to be of interest to those with economics training, but written in a comprehensible and popular style, so that without sacrificing rigor it will be accessible to any interested citizen. It provides a broad review of the economic policies of Clinton and Bush and the IMF-World Bank regimen for third world countries, and it is packed with interesting details, citations to recent economic studies, and political as well as economic reflections on the passing scene.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.