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About
Few know that world hunger was very nearly eradicated in our lifetimes. In the past five years, however, widespread starvation has suddenly reappeared, and chronic hunger is a major issue on every continent. In an extensive investigation of this disturbing shift, Jean Ziegler-one of the world's leading food experts-lays out in clear and accessible terms the complex global causes of the new hunger crisis. Ziegler's wide-ranging and fascinating examination focuses on how the new sustainable revolution in energy production has diverted millions of acres of corn, soy, wheat, and other grain crops from food to fuel. The results, he shows, have been sudden and startling, with declining food reserves sending prices to record highs and a new global commodities market in ethanol and other biofuels gobbling up arable lands in nearly every continent on earth. Like Raj Patel's pathbreaking Stuffed and Starved, Betting on Famine will enlighten the millions of Americans concerned about the politics of food at home-and about the forces that prevent us from feeding the world's children.
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Reviews
"During his 20002008 tenure as U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, Ziegler . . . traveled worldwide to understand hunger and the international policies that he believes cause it (including those that promote the use of crops for biofuels). In this devastating book, he describes the horrors of food insecurity, the callousness of 'crusaders of neoliberalism' who control food and land acces
Publishers Weekly, starred review
"An impassioned and highly readable account of a major tragedy of our time. Ziegler brings together singular expertise and years of on-the-ground testimony in a pointed analysis that we can ignore only at our collective peril."
Maude Barlow, chair of the Council of Canadians
"Ziegler puts the desperation, sadness, and outrage of continuing hunger and malnutrition into the bright light of dayand, in doing so, underscores the absolute insanity of the biofuel scam and the notion that we should be burning food to make motor fuel. This book is Ziegler's cri de coeur. It deserves attention. Even more, it demands action."
Robert Bryce, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute