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Title: World Hunger: Twelve Myths by Frances Moore Lappe, Joseph Collins, Peter Rosset, Calif.) Institute for Food and Development Policy (Oakland ISBN: 0-8021-3591-9 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: October, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.86 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Invaluable, Illuminating, Empowering
Comment: World Hunger: Twelve Myths clearly identifies the root causes of hunger as stemming from inequity and lack of true democracy, dispelling entirely the common belief that inadaquate food production is to blame. In their plain spoken and positive eloquence, the authors overwhelmingly succeed in conveying otherwise dauntingly complex global social and economic dynamics that contribute to world hunger and how each must be changed to honestly address the plight of the poor.
World Hunger: 12 Myths should have a permanent home in school curricula, libraries, and in the hands of people of all ages wishing to better understand and improve the world in which they live.
Rating: 5
Summary: An excellent resource
Comment: Over the years, many myths have emerged about the subject of world hunger. People think that if this or that should happen, hunger will disappear, and no longer will westerners have to look at pictures of starving babies in Africa. This book explodes many of those myths.
Some people think that population (or overpopulation) is the problem. Others think that there simply isn't enough food available, or that nature, with her floods and droughts, is the culprit. Still others think that the solution lies with free trade, or letting the market provide, or with the Green Revolution, with its heavy emphasis on pesticides and other chemicals. Other possibilities are that the poor are simply too hungry to revolt, or that the US should increase its stingy foreign aid budget.
The authors place the blame elsewhere. All over the world, there has been a huge concentration of land in fewer and fewer hands, forcing poor and middle-class peasants off the land (in the US, witness the decline of the family farmer). Structural adjustment programs from places like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (part of the requirements when asking for a loan) require a country to reorient its agriculture toward items that are easily exportable rather than items that can feed their people. Another requirement is the removal of internal tariffs and other barriers to the import of grain and other foodstuffs. It results in a flood of cheaper (usually American) agricultural products reaching the market, driving local farmers out of business. The countries that one thinks of when hearing "famine" actually produce enough food to feed their people. The only problem is that much of it has to go overseas to help pay the foreign debt.
This book is excellent. It presents a potentially complex subject in a clear, easy to understand manner. It contains a list of addresses to contact for more information, and is a great activism reference.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellent Warning Against Market Fundamentalism
Comment: This book does an excellent job of showing how despite the economic growth that has been spurred worldwide thanks to deregulation, liberalization of trade and finance, and improvements in information technology, adherence to market fundamentalism has contributed to creating stark disparities in the distribution of wealth between developed and developing nations, as well as within those nations themselves.
Nevertheless, globalization, for whatever faults it possesses, has made the people of the nations of the world feel more connected than ever (In fact, I'm writing this from Japan, where I have lived for seven years). this book sensibly points out that In order to come up with a food policy that will minimize hunger worldwide, naturally poverty must also be reined in. It seems to me that in order to significantly reduce poverty, all nations must make a fundamental shift in their foreign policy away from acting for the benefit of national interests and toward the benefits of the human race as a whole. I cannot say whether mankind is ready for such a change at this juncture.
However, The book concludes that the freedom to eke out a living (the problem of the poor) supersedes the right to accumulate unlimited wealth (the hoarding of wealth by a small number of people). While this is most certainly true, it also seemed to oversimplify the problem of disparity of income based on the very facts presented in the book. While the book did denounce communist regimes at one point in the book, I felt that the conclusion of the book unneccessarily demonized wealthy individuals and major companies and called the proletariat of the world to unite.
For this weakness in its conclusion, I can only give this work four stars, but still I do strongly recommend giving a careful read to this text for the invaluable information it provides on this terrible problem.
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Title: Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappe, Anna Lappe ISBN: 1585422371 Publisher: J. P. Tarcher Pub. Date: 24 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Stolen Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply by Vandana Shiva ISBN: 0896086070 Publisher: South End Press Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Paradox of Plenty: Hunger in a Bountiful World by Douglas M. Boucher, Douglas H. Boucher ISBN: 0935028714 Publisher: Food First Books Pub. Date: December, 1999 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Diet for a Small Planet (20th Anniversary Edition) by Frances Moore Lappe ISBN: 0345321200 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 12 May, 1985 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Grace at the Table: Ending Hunger in God's World by David Beckmann, Arthur R. Simon ISBN: 0809138662 Publisher: Paulist Press Pub. Date: July, 1999 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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