Title
Mass starvation : the history and future of famine / Alex de Waal.
ISBN
9781509524709 (electronic book)
1509524703 (electronic book)
9781509524662
Published
Malden, MA : Polity, 2018.
Language
English
Description
1 online resource (xiv, 260 pages)
Call Number
HC79.F3 D4 2018eb
Dewey Decimal Classification
363.809
Summary
"The world almost conquered famine. Until the 1980s, this scourge killed ten million people every decade, but by early 2000s mass starvation had all-but-disappeared. Today, famines are resurgent, driven by war, blockade, hostility to humanitarian principles, and a volatile global economy. In Mass Starvation, world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal, provides an authoritative history of modern famines: their causes, dimensions, and why they ended. He analyzes starvation as a crime, and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster, he shows how political decision or political failing is an essential element in every famine, while the spread of democracy and human rights, and the ending of wars, were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon. Hard-hitting and deeply informed, Mass Starvation explains why man-made famine and the political decisions that could end it for good must once again become a top priority for the international community"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Access Note
Access limited to authorized users.
Source of Description
Description based on print version record.
Part I: Perspectives on famine and starvation
An unacknowledged achievement
Famines as atrocities
Malthus's Zombie
A short history of modern famines
Part II: How famines were almost eliminated
Demography, economics, public health
Politics, war, genocide
The humanitarian international
Ethiopia: no longer the land of famine
Part III: The persistence and return of famines
The famine that isn't coming
The new atrocity famines
Mass starvation in the future.
