Paul Vallely, a British journalist and author, set out to write a book about philanthropy in the United Kingdom only to watch the book grow relentlessly from there. The result is a massive and sprawling work that encompasses how several religious and moral traditions have discussed charity or philanthropy over the millennia, how the major practices and institutions of philanthropic giving have changed over the centuries, and how people have debated the general topic of philanthropy in the last few decades. Some readers may be familiar with one or another of these stories, such as the emergence in the era of Carnegie and Rockefeller of endowed charitable foundations staffed by full-time professionals. But it is an unusual book that tries to pull together all these and other threads of the history of philanthropy.
The real core of Philanthropy: From Aristotle to Zuckerberg—its introduction, conclusion, and entire second half—focuses on an interlocking set of debates about philanthropy today, debates that Vallely reports on, explores, and contributes to. These “debates” may be better labelled criticisms of how (and why) many leading business figures have approached charitable giving, what they spend their money on and to what effect, and whether their philanthropy is good for democracy in particular and societies in general. But all works have flaws. This one does too, and, like the book, they are big.
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