The gap between developed and underdeveloped is evident in today's world. In a naive attempt to fill this gap, a number of aid projects and development programs are targeted at less developed countries. But what is development really? James Ferguson attempts to explore this concept in his book “The Anti-Politics Machine: 'Development', Depoliticization and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho”. The book is an extension of Ferguson's doctoral thesis and was published in 1990 by Cambridge University Press. The book is interesting in that it seeks to provide the reader with an understanding and critical insight into the actual processes that take place when development projects are implemented. Using the small African country of Lesotho as a setting, Ferguson's book focuses on the Thaba-Tseka development project. This book is likely to be of interest to a diverse audience, namely anthropologists, sociologists, economists, development professionals or any lay person interested in the field of development. In this book Ferguson aims to create an understanding of how the concept of development works through the case study of the Thaba-Tseka Development Project. To achieve this, it provides detailed accounts of the context and conditions of the project, as well as pointing out where and how development professionals went wrong in this particular case. To present his argument, Ferguson uses the first three chapters to define and analyze the concept of development. In this analysis he implicitly implies that there is a gap between what is planned and what is implemented in development programs, that development is a grave injustice. This theme continues throughout the book and can be seen over and over again in other examples used by Ferguson. The next two chapters... half the paper... mellow. At the end of the book the thesis remains unanswered and he prefers to discuss the spread of bureaucratic power in the Thaba-Tseka region and development is instead simply a “tool” for the bureaucrats. Ferguson's anti-political machine is but one of the mechanisms of "development," leaving his thesis largely unanswered. We personally do not find the book useful despite the excellent detail and capture of concepts. Instead we find it noticeably outdated as many things have changed since the early 1980s. Both Lesotho and the approach of development programs have changed since then and are completely different. However, we believe the value of the book is that it is essential reading and that it was revolutionary in its time and likely influenced the field of development to what we see today. Works Cited Ferguson, J. 1990. “The Anti-Politics Machine.” Cambridge University Press. London