Violent Saviors: The West's Conquest of the Rest

Violent Saviors: The West's Conquest of the Rest by William Easterly

A common antebellum argument in favor of slavery was that the slaves were much better off than they would be had they not been slaves. Materially, this is likely true. Despite this, many slaves would go through great efforts to escape slavery. People value their freedom even more than their material comforts. The book provides many examples that come down to this same point. These stretch from colonial periods up through the cold war and modern times. Western leaders still have trouble grasping the importance of self-determination, even if something else seems "better". This is a problem both at home and abroad. Many programs seem to make people better off, but they fail if the people don't want them. Sometimes this "progress" ends up being fleeting (such as neighborhoods destroyed for freeways). Other times it could be something they would adopt - as long as they had control.