The reproach of hunger
Subtitle: food, justice, and money in the twenty-first century
By: David Rieff
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 402
ISBN-13: 9781439123881; 9781439123874
Subjects: Money; Social justice; Food supply; Hunger
Other titles: Reproach of hunger :
Description: In a groundbreaking book based on six years of reporting, leading expert on humanitarian aid and development David Rieff offers a review of whether the end of extreme poverty and widespread hunger are within our reach. Some of the most brilliant scientists, world politicians, and development experts agree that the eradication of hunger is an essential task for the new millennium. Yet in the last decade, the prices of wheat, soy and rice have soared. This has condemned the hundreds of millions of the world's population who live on less than one dollar per day to a state of hunger and insecurity. Rieff searches for the causes of this food security crisis, as well as what lies behind the failures to respond to disaster: failures to address climate change, poor governance, and misguided optimism. Rieff cautions against the increased privatization of aid, as well as the interventions of celebrity campaigners, whose business-led solutions rob development of political urgency. He dismisses the idle hope of Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that food scarcity can be solved by technological innovation alone, The path ahead, Rieff reminds us, demands we rethink the fundamental causes of the world's grotesque inequalities and understand that what is at stake is a political challenge we are failing to confront.--Adapted from book jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 339-384) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: A better world finally within reach?; title: The wages of optimism; title: Malthus only needs to be wrong once; title: The food crisis of 2007-2008 : a turning point?; title: The global food system and its critics; title: Promises to the poor; title: Cassandra and doctor pangloss; title: Is reforming the system enough?; title: The case for optimism; title: Science to the rescue?; title: Falling in love with the private sector; title: Philanthrocapitalism: a [self] love story; title: The end of hunger?; title: "fertilizing the land with money"; title: Optimism as moral victory, pessimism as moral affront; title: Doing everything to end hunger except think politically; title: Conclusion.