EATING PEOPLE IS WRONG, AND OTHER ESSAYS ON FAMINE, ITS PAST, AND ITS FUTURE by Cormac O Grada ( 9780691165356 )

Item Details

Title:

EATING PEOPLE IS WRONG, AND OTHER ESSAYS ON FAMINE, ITS PAST, AND ITS FUTURE

By:

Cormac O Grada

Format:

Hardback

List price:

£38.00

Our price:

£30.40

Discount:

20% off

You save:

£7.60

ISBN 10:

0691165351

ISBN 13:

9780691165356

Availability:

Usually dispatched within 1-3 weeks.

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Stock:

Currently 0 available

Publisher:

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Pub. date:

1 March, 2015

Pages:

248

Synopsis:

Famines are becoming smaller and rarer, but optimism about the possibility of a famine-free future must be tempered by the threat of global warming. That is just one of the arguments that Cormac O Grada, one of the world's leading authorities on the history and economics of famine, develops in this wide-ranging book, which provides crucial new perspectives on key questions raised by famines around the globe between the seventeenth and twenty-first centuries.The book begins with a taboo topic. O Grada argues that cannibalism, while by no means a universal feature of famines and never responsible for more than a tiny proportion of famine deaths, has probably been more common during very severe famines than previously thought. The book goes on to offer new interpretations of two of the twentieth century's most notorious and controversial famines, the Great Bengal Famine and the Chinese Great Leap Forward Famine. O Grada questions the standard view of the Bengal Famine as a perfect example of market failure, arguing instead that the primary cause was the unwillingness of colonial rulers to divert food from their war effort. The book also addresses the role played by traders and speculators during famines more generally, invoking evidence from famines in France, Ireland, Finland, Malawi, Niger, and Somalia since the 1600s, and overturning Adam Smith's claim that government attempts to solve food shortages always cause famines.Thought-provoking and important, this is essential reading for historians, economists, demographers, and anyone else who is interested in the history and possible future of famine.

Illustrations:

14 line illus. 21 tables. 8 maps.

Publication:

Imprint:

Princeton University Press

Prizes:

Short-listed for "Choice"'s Outstanding Academic Titles for the Year 2015

Returns:

Returnable

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EATING PEOPLE IS WRONG, AND OTHER ESSAYS ON FAMINE, ITS PAST, AND ITS FUTURE