Drawing on experience as a director of US development programmes in Central America, as well as research elsewhere, the author shows how it is the cultural values of a people - with respect to work, education and a concern for the future - that largely explains why some succeed and others do not.

What lies behind Americas economic and social decline? Can racism explain the ghetto tragedy if two-thirds of Americas blacks have made it into the middle class? Why have Chinese, Japanese, and Korean immigrants done so much better than Mexicans? According to Lawrence E. Harrison, the key to answering these and other questions is culturethe values of a people with respect to work, education, frugality, community, fair play, and progress.

Introduction: Progress and Poverty Without Marx
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Success Stories
Brazil Immigrant Entrepreneurs Drive Growth
Spain: The Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution Finally Arrive
Taiwan and Korea: The Entrepreneurial Power of Confucianism
The Japanese Miracle: The Meiji Restoration Shows the Way
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The Fortunes Of Ethnic Groups In America
The Chinese, the Japanese, and the Koreans
The Mexicans
The Blacks
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The Erosion Of American Culture
The Fault, Dear Brutus, Is Not in Japan