The Great Escape:Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality
Subyek
: freedom, Origins of Inequality, humanity
Penerbit
: Princeton University Press
Ringkasan :LIFE IS BETTER NOW than at almost any time in history. More people
are richer and fewer people live in dire poverty. Lives are longer and
parents no longer routinely watch a quarter of their children die. Yet
millions still experience the horrors of destitution and of premature
death. The world is hugely unequal.
Inequality is often a consequence of progress. Not everyone gets
rich at the same time, and not everyone gets immediate access to
the latest life-saving measures, whether access to clean water, to
vaccines, or to new drugs for preventing heart disease. Inequalities
in turn affect progress. This can be good; Indian children see what
education can do and go to school too. It can be bad if the winners
try to stop others from following them, pulling up the ladders
behind them. The newly rich may use their wealth to infl uence politicians
to restrict public education or health care that they themselves
do not need.
This book tells stories of how things got better, how and why progress
happened, and the subsequent interplay of progress and inequality. The Great Escape, a famous movie about prisoners of war in World
War II, is based on the exploits of Roger Bushell (in the fi lm, Roger
Bartlett, played by Richard Attenborough), a South African in the
Royal Air Force who was shot down behind German lines, and who
repeatedly escaped and was repeatedly recaptured.1 In his third
attempt, as depicted in the fi lm—the Great Escape—250 prisoners
escaped with him through tunnels dug from Stalag Luft III. The
movie tells the story of how the escape was planned; the ingenuity
that went into constructing three tunnels, Tom, Dick, and Harry;
and the improvisation and technical skills that went into making
civilian clothes and forging papers, all under the eyes of the watchful
guards. All but three of the POWs were eventually recaptured, and
Bushell himself was executed on direct orders from Hitler. Yet the
emphasis of the movie is not on the limited success of this particular
escape, but on man’s unquenchable desire for freedom, even under
impossibly diffi cult circumstances.
Daftar copy :
No. |
Barcode |
Lokasi |
No. Rak |
Ketersediaan |
1 |
00131575 |
Perpustakaan Pusat |
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TIDAK DIPINJAMKAN |
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