"Giving to those in need what they could be gaining from their own initiative may well be the kindest way to destroy people."

In this eye-opening and controversial work, Robert Lupton (founder of Focused Community Strategies Urban Ministries) draws on his decades of ministry in Atlanta (the poorest major city in the US back in 1990) to call the reader to recognize an American tragedy: our generous and well-intentioned charitable giving often hurts those it is intended to help.

He does not stop, however, at pointing out the problem. He explains how to start doing better... and warns that there are no quick fixes.