| Description |
xiii, 327 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 283-317) and index. |
| Contents |
List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgments -- I. The third horseman -- The ultimate check -- Time and place -- How common were famines in the past? -- Remembering famine -- II. The horrors of famine -- Crime -- Slavery -- Prostitution, infanticide, and child abandonment -- Cannibalism -- III. Prevention and coping -- Famine foods -- Country misers and calculating merchants -- Migration -- IV. Famine demography -- Hierarchies of suffering -- How many died? -- Gender and age -- Missing births -- What do people die of during famines? -- Long-term impacts -- V. Markets and famines -- Profiteers -- French Économistes and Adam Smith -- Markets and famines in practice -- Transport -- Conclusion -- VI. Entitlements : Bengal and beyond -- Bengal -- Food supply and market failure -- Winners and losers -- Conclusion -- VII. Public and private action -- Feeding the starving -- Means of relief -- Corruption -- NGOs and the globalization of relief -- Famine relief as state aid -- VIII. The "violence of government" -- War by another means -- The USSR -- The Chinese famine of 1959-61 -- Ethiopia and North Korea -- IX. An end to famine? -- Agricultural trends -- Climate and desertification -- Where backwardness persists -- A stitch in time -- References -- Index. |
| Summary |
"Ó Gráda explores the causes and profound consequences of famine over the past five millennia ... He enriches our understanding of the most crucial and far-reaching aspects of famine; how food markets can mitigate famine or make it worse; famine's long-term demographic consequences; and the successes or failures of globalized disaster relief. Ó Gráda demonstrates the central role famine has played in the economic and political histories of places"--Publisher description. |
| Subject |
Famines -- History.
|
|
Famines. |
|
History. |
|
Food supply -- History.
|
|
Food supply. |
| ISBN |
9780691122373 acid-free paper |
|
0691122377 acid-free paper |
|
