Clinton's book has good intentions, but not necessarily good prose

Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
By Bill Clinton
Knopf, 256 pp., $24.95

Any book with the subtitle "How Each of Us Can Change the World" is bound to have its share of high-minded declarations. Former President Bill Clinton opens his book by describing his own philanthropic activities through the Clinton Foundation.

One project, the Clinton Global Initiative, has "the objective of creating a global network of citizen activists who reach across the divides of our interdependent world to build real communities of shared opportunities, shared responsibilities, and a genuine sense of belonging."

Later, Clinton tells his readers "we all live in an interdependent world in which our survival depends upon an understanding that our common humanity is more important than our interesting and inevitable differences and that everyone matters." We're told that the paper upon which "Giving" is printed was made "with recycled fibers" from "well-managed, independently certified forests." And of course, some of the book's proceeds will be donated "to charities and nonprofits that are doing their part to change the world." So the book is doing good, but is it a good book?

"Giving" is best described as a litany of nongovernmental organizations, or NGOs, and individuals, often persons of extreme wealth and/or fame, trying to make the world better by eradicating diseases, promoting education, or fighting poverty. Clinton, himself an international celebrity, understands that the wealthy and famous can play an important role in funding and publicizing humanitarian efforts, but sometimes Clinton's name-dropping obscures the underlying good works he's describing.

Within his first 20 pages alone, Clinton references Bono, Oprah Winfrey, Bill and Melinda Gates, Tony Blair, Gwyneth Paltrow, Diane Sawyer, Warren Buffett, Tom Brokaw, and more. Readers may feel like they're hobnobbing at the annual Davos World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The book improves when Clinton discusses how working-class people (who might not be in a position to donate $30 billion to philanthropy like Buffett did) and people in the developing world (those most tragically familiar with global problems) can contribute to a better world. Clinton describes how the heroic Boston doctor Paul Farmer, who grew up dirt poor in a Florida trailer park, moved to Haiti, and later Rwanda, to open and run health clinics that saved innumerable lives.

Perhaps the book's most powerful moment comes when Tsepang Setaka, a young woman from Lesotho, Africa, describes being raped, contracting AIDS, and finding the resilience to become a powerful advocate for AIDS prevention and treatment. Her humble, straightforward testimony speaks louder than any mission statement of some billionaire's charitable foundation: "I am responsible for those patients who have lost hope. I encourage them by sharing my story, teaching them that HIV does not mean death but means that you can live like everyone else. They have to leave the past behind them and move forward."

Clinton offers readers any number of ways they can get involved in helping their communities and the world, from tutoring kids to donating clothing to making consumer choices that are eco-friendly. Clinton tells us he drives a Mercury SUV hybrid with a self-recharging battery, and recommends that readers purchase compact fluorescent light bulbs as well as a number of other eco-friendly products (such as Clinton's book, presumably).

There's no doubt that the Clinton Foundation, as well as the countless other NGOs and individuals highlighted in "Giving," have done tremendously important work around the globe. Despite all its stellar intentions, "Giving" is a book of scattered focus and dryly wonkish prose that may be effective as a resource for giving but won't exactly keep you up late reading.

Chuck Leddy is a freelance writer from Dorchester.