Big bad China? In Winner Take All, Dambisa Moyo, who burst onto the literary-political scene with Dead Aid, suggests that China’s growing influence isn’t all bad. While recent books like Mark Steyn’s After America and Niall Ferguson’s Civilization exhibit concern about the West's declining economic and political clout, Moyo’s new book describes more nuanced global changes. China’s increasing consumption of and control over the world’s finite resources do drive up commodity costs for North American business and consumers, but also drives greater development and builds more infrastructure in Africa than decades of failed aid projects. Moyo, a PhD Oxon, economic writer, and former World Bank employee is uniquely positioned to criticize Western aid programmes. She deploys reputable and convincing facts to make her arguments, pointing out the benefits China offers to the populous demographic south. Viewed from this perspective, China’s growing influence begins to look like a good thing, while naysayers in the small rich countries of Europe and North America are definitely in the minority. Winner Take All is a primer for a key topic of this century and important for anyone wanting to understand the intersection between politics and resources.

One-Minute Reviews aim to bring you frequent short reviews of our most current titles. Check out previous reviews here.