<p>Born in 1839, Henry George learned about poverty early in life, first as a boy-sailor and afterwards by working as a type-setter with a wife and children to support.&nbsp; A talented writer, he gradually rose to become managing editor of the San Francisco Times, and later set up his own crusading journal, the <em>San Francisco Daily Evening Post, </em>only to see his newspaper crushed by the combined power of the press and telegraphic monopolies. Undaunted, George set himself the task of explaining a universal economic conundrum - why does a country&rsquo;s increasing prosperity always result in the most abject poverty for the lowest strata of society? Untrained in economics, he came to the subject with fresh eyes: &ldquo;<em>I had no theory to support, no conclusions to prove. Only, when I first realized the squalid misery of a great city, it appalled and tormented me, and would not let me rest, for thinking of what caused it and how it could be cured&rdquo;.</em></p>

<p>The result of this enquiry was published in 1879 as <em>Progress and Poverty</em>.&nbsp; It rejected many of the prevailing political&shy;-economic theories, and claimed a natural alliance between worker and capitalist.&nbsp; Using clear, reasoned arguments Henry George was able to show that the real villain of the piece was the <em>rentier, </em>the landowner who (unlike labour or capital), contributed nothing to the production of wealth but who was able to take the lion&rsquo;s share from increased rents as a city grew - because land became more valuable.</p>

<p>This then, was the source of increasing poverty in an increasingly wealthy society: &ldquo;<em>When non-producers can claim as rent a portion of the wealth created by producers, the right of the producers to the fruits of their labor is to that extent denied. There is no escape from this position&rdquo;.&nbsp; </em></p>

<p>He then proposed the revolutionary idea of abolishing all present taxes (which he saw, quite rightly, as an imposition on the productive sector) and replacing it with a tax on land.&nbsp; <em>Progress and Poverty </em>caused a sensation, selling well over 3 million copies and winning praise from such great minds as Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Leo Tolstoy and Sun Yat-sen.&nbsp; American Philosopher John Dewey wrote that unless one was acquainted with Henry George&rsquo;s ideas &ldquo;<em>No man, no graduate of a higher educational institution, has a right to regard himself as an educated man in social thought&hellip;&rdquo; </em>This book is required reading for all those worried by the increasing disparity of wealth in modern society, and will open up a new vista of possible solutions.</p>