Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano (the one Chavez gave to Obama in 2009), from 1971.<p>"In the book Galeano analyzes the history of Latin America as a whole, from the time period of the European settlement of the New World to contemporary Latin America, describing the effects of European and later United States economic exploitation and political dominance over the region."<p>The main takeaway (I'm not finished yet), as stated early on, seems to be that for a country/region to lose out economically/developmentally, another country/region has to win. It made me think about cause and effect historically, but also in general.<p>Somewhat relatedly, at least in terms of cause and effect, and with a historical basis in exploitation, is a question I read that was posed by philosopher Peter Singer, also in 1971, based on a paper he wrote called Famine, Affluence, and Morality. In it, an analogy is made where a drowning child in a pond (in the US) needs saving but at the cost of ruining your new shoes. At the same time, an equally in-need child (in Africa) is starving to death and he/she could be saved by foregoing the purchase of the new shoes. Most people would help the drowning child but not the starving one.<p>You can see Mr. Singer discuss it here (2 min)
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCgmPRxUYDY" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCgmPRxUYDY</a><p>Singer on this question and others (9 min)
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVViICWs4dM" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVViICWs4dM</a><p>A university professor exploring it in more detail (14 min)
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyzv2UWzaos" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyzv2UWzaos</a>