This is the story of good intentions gone wrong. It begins in 1945 with a pledge to end poverty through a newly created international banking institution. Staffed by the most talented economists from the best universities, the World Bank embarked on this task with the self-assurance only technicians isolated from reality can possess. Fifty years later, the gap between the rich and the underdeveloped nations is wider than ever, thanks in no small part to the measures taken by the World Bank.

Its policies have destroyed indigenous economies and cultures, seriously damaged the environment and depleted scarce resources, propped up corrupt regimes, and pauperized the Third World.

Working with primary materials, some in the public domain, some leaked to her privately, Catherine Caufield traces the history of this institution with insight and intelligence. Here are the people in power - and the powerless people they have manipulated - and here are the projects and policies that have so degraded our physical and social landscapes.