The Reproach of Hunger by David Rieff
Why have we failed so badly to address the crisis of hunger in the 21st century?
As refugee crises fill the news, David Rieff reminds that hunger is a war not wonRieff, a veteran thinker on development issues, spent six years researching the nexus of population, food commodification and persistent poverty for this critical analysis. Scathing about the alarmist or over-optimistic pronouncements of development officials, agribusiness multinationals and philanthropic nabobs, he notes that any issue involving billions of humans cannot be neatly engineered. Thoughtful, trenchant and bracingly sceptical. * Nature *
Rejecting equally utopian humanitarianism and neoconservative ideology, Rieff's collection of essays provides a compelling analysis of when military intervention is necessary and when it is doomed to fail. -- George Soros
Hunger, [Rieff] writes, is a political problem, and fighting it means rejecting the fashionable consensus that only the private sector can act efficiently. * New Yorker *
A stinging indictment of modern philanthropy and development theory's capacity to resolve the pressing issues of poverty and hunger. In the wake of so many books rehashing the same arguments about how to help the developing world, readers will be grateful for a different (and impeccably researched) perspective. This is a stellar addition to the canon of development policy literature. * Publishing Weekly -- starred review *
Challenges the consensus, showing it for what it is - an ideology that simplifies the causes of extreme poverty and systematically underestimates the difficulties of eradicating it . . .a substantial work of political thought -- John Gray * New Statesman *
Rejecting equally utopian humanitarianism and neoconservative ideology, Rieff's collection of essays provides a compelling analysis of when military intervention is necessary and when it is doomed to fail. -- George Soros
Hunger, [Rieff] writes, is a political problem, and fighting it means rejecting the fashionable consensus that only the private sector can act efficiently. * New Yorker *
A stinging indictment of modern philanthropy and development theory's capacity to resolve the pressing issues of poverty and hunger. In the wake of so many books rehashing the same arguments about how to help the developing world, readers will be grateful for a different (and impeccably researched) perspective. This is a stellar addition to the canon of development policy literature. * Publishing Weekly -- starred review *
Challenges the consensus, showing it for what it is - an ideology that simplifies the causes of extreme poverty and systematically underestimates the difficulties of eradicating it . . .a substantial work of political thought -- John Gray * New Statesman *
David Rieff is the son of Susan Sontag and Philip Rieff. He is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine. He is the author of several books, including the acclaimed At the Point of a Gun: Democratic Dreams and Armed Intervention; A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis; and Slaughterhouse Bosnia and the Failure of the West. He lives in New York City.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781784783389 |
| ISBN 10 | 1784783382 |
| Title | The Reproach of Hunger |
| Author | David Rieff |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Verso Books |
| Year published | 2015-10-06 |
| Number of pages | 432 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |