About book The Big Truck That Went By: How The World Came To Save Haiti And Left Behind A Disaster (2013)
The author, Katz, was an AP reporter in Haiti during and after the 2010 earthquake that killed over 100,000 people. This book tells the story of the earthquake and about the next 18 months, through the subsequent presidential election. The story of the earthquake itself is quite good, and one gets a good feeling for the situation in Haiti, as well as for the life of an AP reporter. However, the book declines in quality toward the end, especially with the author's detailed description of his reporting on a cholera outbreak (which was brought to Haiti by Nepali UN peacekeepers). Katz is obviously very proud of his reporting on the outbreak, but the story is not nearly so interesting as the earthquake, and Katz's reporting is annoyingly repetitive and insistent. (We need a much fuller investigation, he says, because it could be a coincidence that the cholera has the same DNA as the Nepali strain---it could have come from a shipment of food from somewhere else, and maybe the same shipment will go to the US!) But there's no mystery here, and it is obvious where the cholera came from. One has to be careful reading this book. Katz is a fine reporter, but is incredibly naive about anything outside that expertise. His opinions on development aid, on economics, politics, and on corruption are all mostly wrong, and usually ignore the evidence right in front of him. For example, he heavily criticizes aid organizations for worrying about riots. There were major riots about 11 months after the earthquake, but Katz sees the 11-month delay as evidence that riots should never have been a concern. The spark of those riots? A corrupted election. Katz says the election should have been delayed, despite Haiti's poor record with dictators. Despite this, Katz says that Haiti's reputation for corruption is overblown---even as his long-time Haitian aide and photographer triple-charges him for gas expenses and then effectively steals his personal car. On economics, Katz describes how Southeast Asian countries have developed their economies by starting with textiles production and moving on to higher-value industries as labor costs rise. But then he says that Haiti should not try to go into textile production (or any industry) because if labor costs rise then the factories will leave and Haiti will be back to square one. (Who knows why Haiti can't move up the same as everyone else did.) Be honest: When was the last time you thought about Haiti?My mind has drifted back to it every now and then because of how much support there was following the earthquake. Our attention eventually drifted back to other crises both personal and global, but I would occasionally wonder what happened to Haiti. Where did all that money go? Millions died, and a poor city was reduced to rubble. What happens from there?Katz' book explores not only the what, but provides an important reminder of how complex things are, and that the realities on the ground rarely fit the soundbites we expect from our news and the promises of leaders. Katz has the experience to see how all of the pieces fit together, and it makes him a unique and ideal figure to cover the aftermath of the quake. His prose is powerful, insightful, and clear. Even if the political, historical, geographic, and economic lines can become a bit confusing at times, we never lose sight over the overarching picture, and it's not a pretty one.The Big Truck That Went By is consistently insightful, educational, and captivating. The book isn't just about Haiti. It's about the importance of understanding the complexities of a nation and global powers, and that to truly understand something of this magnitude requires more time and dedication than the $10 we donated to the Red Cross via text. The book isn't a recommendation or rallying call. It's just damned fascinating and a must-read.
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Looking forward to his next book , may become the next Bob Woodward !
—Lim
What an excellent book! Quite an education on so many levels!
—jenelle
I received this book as a Goodreads First Reads.
—Xie
Very interesting and only occasionally preachy
—johnny
