Books like Strangers drowning by Larissa MacFarquhar

Larissa MacFarquhar follows individuals who live lives of profound ethical commitment, revealing their "stubborn integrity and their compromises; their bravery and their recklessness; their joys and defeats and wrenching dilemmas." Through intimate narratives—such as a couple who adopt twenty children, a couple who found a leprosy colony in the wilderness of India, and a woman who questions the morality of self‑indulgence—MacFarquhar traces how each acts when the needs of strangers conflict with the needs of those closest to them. Interspersed with these stories is a history of Western literature, philosophy, social science, and self‑help that has shaped a pervasive suspicion of the do‑gooder. The book challenges readers to confront the fundamental questions of what it means to be human—how much we should help, and how much we can help—while also considering whether caring for strangers can come at the expense of our own circles.

First publish date: 2015