books
famine a short history
p famine remains one of the worst calamities that can befall a society . mass starvation whether it is inflicted by drought or engineered by misguided or genocidal economic policies devastates families weakens the social fabric and undermines political stability . cormac gr da the acclaimed author who chronicled the tragic irish famine in books like black 47 and beyond here traces the complete history of famine from the earliest records to today . p combining powerful storytelling with the latest evidence from economics and history gr da explores the causes and profound consequences of famine over the past five millennia from ancient egypt to the killing fields of 1970s cambodia from the great famine of fourteenth century europe to the famine in niger in 2005 . he enriches our understanding of the most crucial and far reaching aspects of famine including the roles that population pressure public policy and human agency play in causing famine ; how food markets can mitigate famine or make it worse ; famines long term demographic consequences ; and the successes and failures of globalized disaster relief . gr da demonstrates the central role famine has played in the economic and political histories of places as different as ukraine under stalin 1940s bengal and maos china . and he examines the prospects of a world free of famine . p this is the most comprehensive history of famine available and is required reading for anyone concerned with issues of economic development and world poverty .
hardcover princeton university press 2009 isbn13 9780691122373 isbn10 0691122377
abridged n isbn 13 9780691122373 number in series 1 number of pages 327 publisher princeton univ pr release date 62135769600000