by Paul Vallely

“Deeply researched and wonderfully written, this book is much more than a sweeping, erudite history. It is a fascinating exploration of why people give – and a powerful call for philanthropy to do a better job of melding empathy with effectiveness.”—David Callahan, Founder & Editor of Inside Philanthropy; author of The Givers: Wealth, Power, and Philanthropy in a New Gilded Age

The super-rich are silently and secretly shaping our world.

In this groundbreaking exploration of historical and contemporary philanthropy, bestselling author Paul Vallely reveals how this far-reaching change came about.

Vivid with anecdote and scholarly insight, this magisterial survey – from the ancient Greeks to today’s high-tech geeks – provides an original take on the history of philanthropy. It shows how giving has, variously, been a matter of honor, altruism, religious injunction, political control, moral activism, enlightened self-interest, public good, personal fulfilment and plutocratic manipulation.

Its narrative moves from the Greek man of honor and Roman patron, via the Jewish prophet and Christian scholastic – through the Elizabethan machiavel, Puritan proto-capitalist, Enlightenment activist and Victorian moralist – to the robber-baron philanthropist, the welfare socialist, the celebrity activist and today’s wealthy mega-giver. In the process it discovers that philanthropy lost an essential element as it entered the modern era. The book then embarks on a journey to determine where today’s philanthropists come closest to recovering that missing dimension.

Philanthropy explores the successes and failures of “philanthrocapitalism,” examines its claims and contradictions, and asks tough questions of top philanthropists and leading thinkers – among them Richard Branson, Eliza Manningham-Buller, Jonathan Ruffer, David Sainsbury, John Studzinski, Bob Geldof, Naser Haghamed, Lenny Henry, Jonathan Sacks, Rowan Williams, Ngaire Woods, and the presidents of the Rockefeller and Soros foundations, Rajiv Shah and Patrick Gaspard. In extended conversations they explore the relationship between philanthropy and family, faith, society, art, politics, and the creation and distribution of wealth.

Highly engaging and meticulously researched, Paul Vallely’s authoritative account of philanthropy then and now critiques the excessive utilitarianism of much modern philanthrocapitalism and points to how philanthropy can rediscover its soul.

Paul Vallely is an internationally acclaimed commentator on politics, religion and society. His bestselling biography, Pope Francis: Untying the Knots, won worldwide critical praise. He was correspondent for The Times in Ethiopia during the famine of 1984-1985 for which he was commended as International Reporter of the Year. Vallely was also the co-author of Bob Geldof’s massive-selling autobiography, Is That It? and was later involved in the organization of Live 8. In 2004 he was seconded to the Commission for Africa set up by the British prime minister, Tony Blair, where he worked on the Commission’s report “Our Common Interest” (later published by Penguin). He currently is the editor of The New Politics – Catholic Social Teaching for the 21st Century, as well as Senior Research Fellow at the Global Development Institute, University of Manchester, and Visiting Professor in Public Ethics at the University of Chester. Vallely has been published by The New York Times, Sunday Times, Guardian, Independent, Tablet and Church Times.