Famine: A Short History - Rilegato

Grada, Cormac O.

3,36

64 valutazioni di Goodreads

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0691122377 ISBN 13: 9780691122373

Casa editrice: Princeton Univ Pr, 2009

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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 likeBlack '47 and Beyond, here traces the complete history of famine from the earliest records to today.

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; famine's 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 Mao's China. And he examines the prospects of a world free of famine.

This is the most comprehensive history of famine available, and is required reading for anyone concerned with issues of economic development and world poverty.

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Recensione:

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2009
"This is why Cormac � Gr�da's latest book is so surprising. He is an optimist. According to him, famines are becoming less common. Even better: they will probably decline in frequency even further. Is it time to declare famine history? � Gr�da says 'yes'. This is a thesis not to be lightly dismissed. � Gr�da is a distinguished economic historian. He is the world's foremost authority on the Irish economy, and has written eloquently on the Great Famine of the late 1840s, in which around one million Irish men and women died. Furthermore, this book is packed with facts, all eloquently presented. Although it is a compact little book with generous margins, it is truly global in nature and spans the period from the beginning of written history to the present."--Joanna Bourke, The Times (UK)
"Cormac � Gr�da's indelible new book Famine: A Short History emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between famine and a plethora of other social ills, including crime, slavery, infanticide, and prostitution."--Evan R. Goldstein, Chronicle of Higher Education

"Despite its modest title this is an impressive book. . . . Apart from the author's encyclopaedic knowledge, this book is distinguished by its attention to detail, insistence on evidence to back up arguments, and clever structure, which enables the reader to engage easily with cutting-edge arguments about the nature and evolution of famine. It is likely to become the standard academic text on the subject, but its accessible style, clarity and illustrations make it of much wider interest and significance."--P�draig Carmody, The Irish Times

"This persuasive argument for global development is intricate enough to satisfy policy wonks but written with a larger audience in mind."--Publishers Weekly

"This is an excellent book for any student, researcher, or policy maker interested in famine, food scarcity, or hunger."--Choice

"Regarded as Ireland's premier economic historian even before the publication in 1999 of his widely praised Black '47 and Beyond: The Great Irish Famine in History, Economy, and Memory, Cormac � Gr�da of the University of Dublin created tremors of anticipation with the highly publicized Famine: A Short History, which establishes him more securely as a scholar in command of the field as a whole."--Harold V. Cordry, Foreword Magazine

"Cormac � Gr�da's book deals with some of the grimmest episodes of human suffering to be recorded. And yes, the author's style is concise and direct. But the book, while always engrossing, is anything but ghoulish or sensationalised and its sociopolitical lessons are relevant to many of the gravest problems facing the world today."--Roy Williams, The Australian

"Gripping stuff."--Tom Jaine, The Guardian (UK)
"This is an excellent book. Whether you need a quick reference or a textbook on famine or you wish to study a specific aspect, this book is the place to start."--Violetta Hionidou, BBC Magazine

Contenuti:

List of Figures and Tables xi
Acknowledgments xv

Chapter I: The Third Horseman 1
The Ultimate Check 8
Time and Place 13
How Common Were Famines in the Past? 25
Remembering Famine 39

Chapter II: The Horrors of Famine 45
Crime 52
Slavery 56
Prostitution, Infanticide, and Child Abandonment 59
Cannibalism 63

Chapter III: Prevention and Coping 69
Famine Foods 73
Country Misers and Calculating Merchants 78
Migration 81

Chapter IV: Famine Demography 90
Hierarchies of Suffering 90
How Many Died? 92
Gender and Age 98
Missing Births 102
What Do People Die of during Famines? 108
Long-term Impacts 121

Chapter V: Markets and Famines 129
Profiteers 129
French �conomistes and Adam Smith 137
Markets and Famines in Practice 143
Transport 155
Conclusion 157

Chapter VI: Entitlements: Bengal and Beyond 159
Bengal 159
Food Supply and Market Failure 166
Winners and Losers 178
Conclusion 184

Chapter VII: Public and Private Action 195
Feeding the Starving 195
Means of Relief 210
Corruption 216
NGOs and the Globalization of Relief 218
Famine Relief as State Aid 225

Chapter VIII: The "Violence of Government" 229
War by Another Means 229
The USSR 233
The Chinese Famine of 1959-61 241
Ethiopia and North Korea 254

Chapter IX: An End to Famine? 259
Agricultural Trends 262
Climate and Desertification 269
Where Backwardness Persists 274
A Stitch in Time 278

References 283
Index 319

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