" The Peasant Betrayed is a skeptical but not cynical view of government intervention in agrarian reform, firmly rooted in economic principles and on-the-spot observations. It spares neither capitalist nor socialist reforms, and thus avoids conventional dogmatism. The book achieves a clarity of exposition uncommon among social scientists, and thus will be attractive reading for policymakers and students alike. It is economically astute and culturally sensitive to Third World peoples."
—Bruce Herrick, Washington and Lee University
"Professor Powelson has long been an independent-minded, close student of development countries who tends to come up with documented analyses different from those of other people. This time he and Professor Stock argue that land reform, often undertaken with the best intentions, has mostly been used to exploit peasants."
—Foreign Affairs
