Progress & Poverty (Abridged)

An Inquiry Into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want With Increase of Wealth...the Remedy Henry George believed that "(t)he people must think because the people alone can act." This classic bestseller in political economy launched a worldwide movement with a unique strategy to abolish privilege and poverty. Many economists and politicians foster the illusion that great fortunes and poverty stem from the presence or absence of individual skill and risk-taking. Henry George, by contrast, showed that the wealth gap occurs because a few people are allowed to monopolize natural opportunities and deny them to others. George did not advocate equality of income, the forcible redistribution of wealth, or government management of the economy. He simply believed that in a society not burdened by the demands of a privileged elite, a full and satisfying life would be attainable by everyone. (Originally published in 1879.) Abridged version.