Families of the World

Two secular books by a secular author are two of the best missionary books I've ever read.

In a thrift store earlier this summer, I saw Families of the World - Family Life at the Close of the 20th Century, The Americas & the Caribbean by Helene Tremblay.  It looked interesting so I bought it.  Once started reading it, I could hardly put it down.  It was so good that I found the next book online, which covered East Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.  According to the introductions, this was supposed to be a series, with Europe coming next.  However, these are the only two I can find anywhere, so assume that the author never wrote any more.

Tremblay visited families in essentially every country in the areas covered in each book, staying at least one night in each home.  85% of the places she visited were places of abject poverty and little to inspire the people who lived there.  She devoted about four pages to each home, telling the story of each family and including a couple of pictures as well.  Another page was then devoted to the statistics of that particular country.

Most of these people have no hope, either for jobs and success in this life, or for life after death.

You won't find these books in many bookstores; you'll either find them at random, or on a source like Amazon, eBay, or Half.com.  They were both well worth my time, and they will not be going back to the thrift store, but will stay on my shelf.