The world almost conquered famine. Until the 1980s, this scourge killed ten million people every decade, but by early 2000s mass starvation had all but disappeared. Today, famines are resurgent, driven by war, blockade, hostility to humanitarian principles and a volatile global economy. In Mass Starvation, world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal provides an authoritative history of modern famines: their causes, dimensions and why they ended. He analyses starvation as a crime, and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster, he shows how political decision or political failing is an essential element in every famine, while the spread of democracy and human rights, and the ending of wars, were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon. Hard-hitting and deeply informed, Mass Starvation explains why man-made famine and the political decisions that could end it for good must once again become a top priority for the international community.

The scentifically based way to lose weight and keep it off forever. Whether you've tried all the diets but find you just keep putting the weight back on - plus extra - or simply want to lose weight and keep it off forever, this is the book for you, with real solutions based on real science. Like many women, Dr Amanda Sainsbury-Salis began dieting in her teens despite being a normal weight. Over the next few years she tried all kinds of diets and six years on her weight had ballooned; she was now obese. 'I dieted myself fat,' Dr Sainsbury-Salis says. 'I'd lose a kilo or two then just gain it all back, plus more.' She also fell prey to binge eating, pigging out on pastries in between her dieting attempts. When in despair she finally gave up dieting, she decided to start a career in medical research so that she could find an effective way to lose weight. Today she is a world leader in the field of weight loss. Through her research, she discovered that the key to successful dieting is to understand how your brain regulates your weight and work with it, rather than against it, by never going hungry. Staying satisfied is the key to beating the 'famine reaction', your body's way of protecting itself when you diet from what it perceives as a life-threatening food shortage. Once in tune with your body, it's easy to lose weight and keep it off. Amanda tested out her theories on herself, losing nearly 30 kilograms and keeping it off for more than nine years (and counting), then helped her husband to lose 20 kilograms. Now, in The Don't Go Hungry Diet, Dr Sainsbury-Salis explains the science behind her discoveries simply and effectively, then tells how you, too, can lose weight more effectively and with less effort than ever before. With chapters on how to recognise and deal with a famine reaction and other scientific breakthroughs as well as on nutrition and exercise, plus 50 delicious recipes, this is a scientifically based plan that is simple for anyone to follow -and that works.

* A practical guide to underlying causes and immediate, lasting solutions for famine * Explains efficient use of resources in a crisis * Written by a well-known disaster relief practitioner and humanitarian Fred Cuny adopts an economic approach to wartime famine that is still considered innovative and challenging by field experts. His international fieldwork in both natural and man-made disasters is visionary and his approach to famine pragmatic. This book focuses on counter-famine measures revolving around people’s livelihoods, giving humanitarian relief workers a more permanent solution to world hunger.

The book outlines four problem areas exemplified in the response to each crisis: the external nature of famine relief, the relationship between relief activities and endemic problems, the coordination of such activities, and the ambivalence of the results. The authors identify the many difficulties inherent in providing emergency relief to populations caught in circumstances of life-threatening famine. They show how such famine emergencies reflect the most extreme breakdown of social order and present the most compelling imperatives for international action. Deng and Minear also discuss how the international community, alerted by the media and mobilized by the Ethiopian famine, moved in to fill the moral void left by the government and how outside organizations worked together to pressure Sudan's political authorities to be more responsive to these tragedies. Looking ahead, the authors highlight the implications for future involvement in humanitarian initiatives in a new world order.

The first full-length study of famine in antiquity. The study provides detailed case studies of Athens and Rome, the best known states of antiquity, but also illuminates the institutional response to food crisis in the mass of ordinary cities in the Mediterranean world. Ancient historians have generally shown little interest in investigating the material base of the unique civilisations of the Graeco-Roman world, and have left unexplored the role of the food supply in framing the central institutions and practices of ancient society.

Some 250,000 people died in the southern Somalia famine of 2011-12, which also displaced and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands more. Yet this crisis had been predicted nearly a year earlier. The harshest drought in Somalia's recent history coincided with a global spike in food prices, hitting this arid, import-dependent country hard. The policies of Al-Shabaab, a militant Islamist group that controlled southern Somalia, exacerbated an already difficult situation, barring most humanitarian assistance, while donors counter-terrorism policies led to cuts and criminalized any aid falling into their hands. A major disaster resulted from the production and market failures precipitated by the drought and food price crisis, while the famine itself was the result of the failure to quickly respond to these events-and was thus largely human-made. This book analyses the famine: the trade-offs between competing policy priorities that led to it, the collective failure in response, and how those affected by it attempted to protect themselves and their livelihoods.It also examines the humanitarian response, including actors that had not previously been particularly visible in Somalia-from Turkey, the Middle East, and Islamic charities worldwide.

History.