Victoria T. (justicepirate) reviewed The Locust Effect: Why the End of Poverty Requires the End of Violence on + 350 more book reviews
Gary Haugen is my favorite author and I have read each of his books. This one was my least favorite though. Why? It was well done, definitely. The book is all about how with the end of violence, there will cease to be poverty. He even shows us things such as how people are charged with crimes they have not committed and that they are backlogged with so many cases in developing countries that no one is able to get through these cases for over a couple hundred years while people rot in jail for a crime they did not commit. I do agree that poverty follows violence, clearly. I loved the examples and thoroughness of this whole book.
The President of International Justice Mission has highlighted on something that his other books did not: The law and corrupt side of justice/injustice. My love for his other books is that throughout them, I see his compassionate heart seeping through beautifully that it made me tear up while reading them. Throughout all of his books he has scriptures that intertwine with why he does what he does and in this book there is absolutely none of that at all. He mentions in the last 40 pages that he started IJM because of his Christian convictions, but that is the only time anything is mentioned in that way. There is no mention of the power of prayer or the gospel reaching these people to fully heal people: both for oppressed and oppressor.
While I do see that corrupt governments could use some order, I disagree that it is the way we can see full change. What his other books seems to shed light on that he seems to have not focused on is that the power of Christ's love and His gospel is what does transform a place ultimately, not the placement of laws. I see that those things ARE helpful, but I also think perhaps this book was to stretch out to a more vast audience that is not Christian, so that is possibly why he didn't mention anything in Christian form.
The Good News About Injustice is one of my all time favorite books for a reason (explains how God empowers us to help the oppressed and poor as a way of shining Christ's light because He is within us) and this one seemed to shy away from it a lot. Terrify No More talked about compassion as IJM saved children out of raids of brothels and helped them out of labor trafficking as well. Just Courage was about how God can compel us to help the oppressed. This one was more informational than anything.
In the beginning of the book, Mr. Haugen was explaining about various areas of the world where people got away with rapes and murders and how people were being taken advantage of. Those with money get out of their crimes while the poor suffer. I loved this portion of the book. After the third chapter (which is titled the same as the book), the book started to just be very informational (which isn't a bad thing, I learned lots of new things), but to the point where I was a bit bored and couldn't wait to finish the book so I could get to my next one. That has never happened to me while reading his books before. I always enjoy them so much and can't wait to read more and look forward to when he releases a new book. I adore Mr. Haugen's speeches and His love for Christ and his work with IJM and his heart of compassion for people, but this book seemed more unlike him or at least just gets us into the legal side that he deals with regularly.
The President of International Justice Mission has highlighted on something that his other books did not: The law and corrupt side of justice/injustice. My love for his other books is that throughout them, I see his compassionate heart seeping through beautifully that it made me tear up while reading them. Throughout all of his books he has scriptures that intertwine with why he does what he does and in this book there is absolutely none of that at all. He mentions in the last 40 pages that he started IJM because of his Christian convictions, but that is the only time anything is mentioned in that way. There is no mention of the power of prayer or the gospel reaching these people to fully heal people: both for oppressed and oppressor.
While I do see that corrupt governments could use some order, I disagree that it is the way we can see full change. What his other books seems to shed light on that he seems to have not focused on is that the power of Christ's love and His gospel is what does transform a place ultimately, not the placement of laws. I see that those things ARE helpful, but I also think perhaps this book was to stretch out to a more vast audience that is not Christian, so that is possibly why he didn't mention anything in Christian form.
The Good News About Injustice is one of my all time favorite books for a reason (explains how God empowers us to help the oppressed and poor as a way of shining Christ's light because He is within us) and this one seemed to shy away from it a lot. Terrify No More talked about compassion as IJM saved children out of raids of brothels and helped them out of labor trafficking as well. Just Courage was about how God can compel us to help the oppressed. This one was more informational than anything.
In the beginning of the book, Mr. Haugen was explaining about various areas of the world where people got away with rapes and murders and how people were being taken advantage of. Those with money get out of their crimes while the poor suffer. I loved this portion of the book. After the third chapter (which is titled the same as the book), the book started to just be very informational (which isn't a bad thing, I learned lots of new things), but to the point where I was a bit bored and couldn't wait to finish the book so I could get to my next one. That has never happened to me while reading his books before. I always enjoy them so much and can't wait to read more and look forward to when he releases a new book. I adore Mr. Haugen's speeches and His love for Christ and his work with IJM and his heart of compassion for people, but this book seemed more unlike him or at least just gets us into the legal side that he deals with regularly.
