Rocinha Hill in Rio de Janeiro (source: sean fitz @ Flickr) “Um país chamado favela” (literally, “A Country Called Favela”) is a surprisingly excellent book about the Brazilian favelas [1], written by Renato Meirelles and Celso Athayde. Without any recommendation, I spotted it on a local library and read it in one sitting. The approach…

“Anti-government types” are often accused of not caring about poor people because we suggest that communities and charities can help them better than government can. This claim seems vindicated when considering the numerous ways governments both create poverty and harm the poor. The homeless are especially victimized by government laws. According to the most recent findings, on a…