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The Big Truck That Went By
- How the World Came to Save Haiti and Left Behind a Disaster
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis, Jonathan M. Katz
- Length: 12 hrs and 53 mins
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Publisher's Summary
On January 12, 2010, the deadliest earthquake in the history of the Western Hemisphere struck the nation least prepared to handle one. Jonathan M. Katz, the only full-time American news correspondent in Haiti, was inside his house when it buckled along with hundreds of thousands of others. In this visceral first-hand account, Katz takes readers inside the terror of that day, the devastation visited on ordinary Haitians, and through the monumental--yet misbegotten--rescue effort that followed.
More than half of American adults gave money for Haiti, part of a global response that reached $16.3 billion in pledges. But three years later the effort has foundered. Its most important promises--to rebuild safer cities, alleviate severe poverty, and strengthen Haiti to face future disasters--remain unfulfilled. How did so much generosity amount to so little? What went wrong?
The Big Truck That Went By presents a hard hitting investigation into international aid, finding that the way wealthy countries give today makes poor countries seem irredeemably hopeless, while trapping millions in cycles of privation and catastrophe. Katz follows the money to uncover startling truths about how good intentions go wrong, and what can be done to make aid "smarter."
Reporting at the side of Bill Clinton, Wyclef Jean, Sean Penn, Haiti's leaders and people, Katz also creates a complex, darkly funny, and unexpected portrait of one of the world's most fascinating countries. The Big Truck That Went By is not only a definitive account of Haiti's earthquake, but of the world we live in today.
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What listeners say about The Big Truck That Went By
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- rifenbc
- 03-01-19
This story angered and cheered inside me
I had NO idea just how bad it was in Haiti and how America was as much to blame for the history as well as the current state of affairs in Haiti. I am ashamed of the way America has abused the country and left the people in dire living conditions and no way to fight their way out of it. In this situation - we, America, truly ARE our brother's keeper. But where have we been? Instead of helping these people out of severe poverty, we have contributed to their misery through greed, black markets, and just turning our heads away from what these people are facing every day.
We are making Puerto Rico into another Haiti if we don't step up our help after the devastation of the hurricanes which left the country (our American Citizens!) struggling for the most basic living items. Water, Food, Housing, Medical care. If we don't want a second Haiti on American soil, then we need to learn from Haiti and the mistakes made so they are never repeated. In addition, we need to gather other countries who are willing to start from scratch and build Haiti into a habitable country for once, and then take our greed home and let them manage their island.
2 people found this helpful
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- VO
- 05-28-15
Excellent book
Best book on Haiti by far. Katz nailed it and it was a fascinating read
2 people found this helpful
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- Aaron Villarreyna
- 06-12-18
Eye opening
loved it from start to finish. Gives us a perspective that we would otherwise not be able to get of it was not for the first hand in filtered experience.
1 person found this helpful
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- ritware
- 04-15-18
Explains a lot!
The book was enjoyable and informative. I enjoyed learning about the island country of Haiti. I would encourage anyone who has had questions about the disaster of the earthquake and cholera outbreak to read this first hand reporters account.
1 person found this helpful
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- Jason Como
- 11-03-16
Read (or listen) before you go to Haiti
I have visited Haiti 4 times since the earthquake on January 12, 2010 in a humanitarian capacity. This book can help you!when answering the inevitable question we all get before we go to Haiti, Where did all the money go?! It would be a great introduction to a course on Haiti After the earthquake. Thank you Mr. Katz!
1 person found this helpful
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- J Robinson
- 08-07-16
Honest account of the reality of post earthquake Haiti
Excellent first hand experience of the complexity that was the Haitian earthquake and the world's response. Highly recommended,
1 person found this helpful
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- Big Hopper
- 10-02-15
Enjoyable objective analysis of the fail state
Anecdotes and jounalism. Mr Katz makes us live the analytic life of a foreign correspondsant .
1 person found this helpful
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- Tyler Bradshaw
- 02-06-23
Can’t help but feel betrayed
This book really shows how we can respond to foreign issues terribly and who stands to hide those matters from the public eye
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- matthew berghuis
- 02-09-22
An excellent book about a lesser known event.
This book does a good job of narrating and explaining what happened in Haiti after the earthquake. The story is slightly marred by the author's overly judgemental tone. At times it sounds like like something I'd hear at an Emo show.
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- Becky
- 12-29-20
Excellent Introduction to life in Haiti
Brief historical overview and life better explained from someone who lived and worked in the country. It’s a better overview than anyone could get on a brief visit or reading of a history book on the country. Thank you Mr. Katz.
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By: Helene Cooper
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A Continent for the Taking
- The Tragedy and Hope of Africa
- By: Howard W. French
- Narrated by: Mirron E. Willis
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In A Continent for the Taking, Howard W. French, a veteran correspondent for The New York Times, gives a compelling firsthand account of some of Africa's most devastating recent history. While he captures the tragedies that have repeatedly befallen Africa's peoples, French also opens our eyes to the immense possibility that lies in Africa's complexity, diversity, and myriad cultural strengths.
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A story to pay your attention to
- By George on 04-30-13
By: Howard W. French
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This Is Cuba
- An American Journalist Under Castro's Shadow
- By: David Ariosto
- Narrated by: David Ariosto
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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This is Cuba is a true story that begins in the summer of 2009 when a young American photo-journalist is offered the chance of a lifetime - a two-year assignment in Havana. For David Ariosto, the island is an intriguing new world, unmoored from the one he left behind. From neighboring military coups, suspected honey traps, salty spooks, and desperate migrants to dissidents, doctors, and Havana’s empty shelves, Ariosto uncovers the island’s subtle absurdities, its Cold War mystique, and the hopes of a people in the throes of transition.
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You're really none the wiser
- By Buretto on 01-10-19
By: David Ariosto
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Naked in Baghdad
- The Iraq War as Seen by National Public Radio's Correspondent
- By: Anne Garrels
- Narrated by: Anne Garrels
- Length: 6 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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One of only sixteen unembedded American journalists who stayed in Baghdad's now-legendary Palestine Hotel throughout the American invasion of Iraq, NPR's Anne Garrels was at the very center of the storm. She brings us the sights, sounds, and smells of our latest war with unparalleled vividness and immediacy.
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My favorite book of the year!
- By Native Texan on 10-03-03
By: Anne Garrels
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City of Thorns
- Nine Lives in the World’s Largest Refugee Camp
- By: Ben Rawlence
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 11 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Situated hundreds of miles from any other settlement, deep within the inhospitable desert of Northern Kenya, Dadaab is a city like no other. Its buildings are made from mud, sticks, or plastic; its entire economy is gray; and its citizens survive on rations and luck. Over the course of four years, Ben Rawlence became a firsthand witness to a strange and desperate limbo-land, getting to know many of those who have come there seeking sanctuary.
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Compelling but dry
- By Megan on 09-16-16
By: Ben Rawlence
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Blood Diamonds
- Tracing the Deadly Path of the World's Most Precious Stones
- By: Greg Campbell
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 7 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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The diamonds of Sierra Leone have funded one of the most savage rebel campaigns in modern history. These "blood diamonds" are smuggled out of West Africa and sold to legitimate diamond merchants in London, Antwerp, and New York, often with the complicity of the international diamond industry. Eventually, these very diamonds find their way into the rings and necklaces of brides the world over.
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Diamonds are not for love
- By Edward C. Charbonnet on 03-12-07
By: Greg Campbell
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Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
- The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa
- By: Jason Stearns
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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At the heart of Africa is Congo, a country the size of Western Europe, bordering nine other nations, that since 1996 has been wracked by a brutal and unstaunchable war in which millions have died. And yet, despite its epic proportions, it has received little sustained media attention. In this deeply reported book, Jason K. Stearns vividly tells the story of this misunderstood conflict through the experiences of those who engineered and perpetrated it.
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First book I've found that explains DRC
- By Amazon Customer on 09-09-17
By: Jason Stearns
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The Year That Changed the World
- The Untold Story Behind the Fall of the Berlin Wall
- By: Michael Meyer
- Narrated by: Ed Sala
- Length: 10 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! President Ronald Reagan's famous exhortation when visiting Berlin in 1987 has long been widely cited as the clarion call that brought the Cold War to an end. The United States won, so this version of history goes, because Ronald Reagan stood firm against the USSR; American resoluteness brought the evil empire to its knees. Michael Meyer, who was there at the time as a Newsweek bureau chief, begs to differ.
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Great book about a great year for democracy.
- By Susan on 11-24-09
By: Michael Meyer
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Katrina
- After the Flood
- By: Gary Rivlin
- Narrated by: Johnny Heller
- Length: 15 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Much of New Orleans still sat underwater the first time Gary Rivlin glimpsed the city after Hurricane Katrina. Then a staff reporter for The New York Times, he was heading into the city to survey the damage. The interstate was eerily empty. Soldiers in uniform and armed with assault rifles stopped him. Water reached the eaves of houses for as far as the eye could see.
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Fascinating account of New Orleans during Katrina
- By mswnola on 02-28-17
By: Gary Rivlin
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Love in the Driest Season
- A Family Memoir
- By: Neely Tucker
- Narrated by: Michael Kramer
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Foreign correspondent Neely Tucker and his wife, Vita, arrived in Zimbabwe in 1997. After witnessing firsthand the devastating consequences of AIDS on the population, especially the children, the couple started volunteering at an orphanage that was desperately underfunded and short-staffed. One afternoon, a critically ill infant was brought to the orphanage from a village outside the city. She'd been left to die in a field on the day she was born.
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batter than 5 stars
- By reggie p on 03-01-05
By: Neely Tucker