In office Mr Lagos tried to combine a free-market economy with public policies designed to create a less unequal society. He had some success： he signed free-trade agreements with the United States and the European Union and created new anti-poverty， health and housing programmes. This modern and moderate social democracy is an implicit rebuke to Allende， whom he is reluctant to criticise directly.

　　执政期间，拉各斯试图把自由市场经济与公共政策相结合，而这些公共政策旨在创建一个少些不平等的社会。他取得了一些成功，与美国和欧盟签署了自由贸易协定，并制订了新的反贫困、健康与住房计划。 这种温和的现代社会民主是对阿连德含蓄的指责，他不愿直接批评阿连德。

　　Despite its title， the book is infuriatingly perfunctory in its treatment of Chile's impressive socioeconomic progress under the Concertación. Mr Lagos's presidency merits just two chapters， one of which focuses on foreign policy. It was to the author's abiding credit that Chile， a member of the UN Security Council at the time， refused to back George Bush's rush to war against Iraq.

　　智利在争取民主联盟执政时所取得的社会经济进步令人印象深刻，但本书不顾它的标题，对这点的处理敷衍塞责，让人气愤。拉各斯总统任期的功绩只有两章，其中一章还侧重于对外政策。 智利当时是联合国安理会成员国，它拒绝支持乔治·布什匆忙发动对伊战争，这点让拉各斯享有了持久声望。