A fascinating approach to history comparing and contrasting the natural and human-made causes of three catastrophic famines--Ireland in the 1840s, Bengal in the 1940s, and Ethiopia in the 1980s--and their horrific by-products. I've already read a good bit about the Irish famine but even found sone of Keneally said about it enlightening. ( )

A brief and sickening overview of three historical examples of famines - the Irish potato famine, the Bengalese famine during WWII, and the Ethiopian famines of the 1970s-80s.

Compares and contrasts the three examples, with the physiological and psychological effects of famine, as well as the heroes and villains of each case - those who tried to get the word out, and those callous few who snubbed the starving people or ignored them completely. Amartya Sen's assertion that there has been no famine in a functioning democracy holds true in these cases. The administration has utterly ignored the people's needs.

Considering how North Korea's been in the news a lot recently, this book will always remain prescient reading, sadly enough.

I would have liked even more detail, but that's just my opinion. ( )

It's hard to read about famines and the truly stupid public policy that precedes them and deepens the suffering that results. Not that Keneally hasn't written an excellent and well documented book. What's compelling here is Keneally's contention that it is not climatological but political problems that cause famines. He takes three cases and shows us how government action caused an initially difficult condition to become inexorably and fatally worse. The Irish potato famine is well known but its political causes less so. The other two famines he uses as case studies are not well known at all.

Well-written but tough on the tender-hearted. ( )

I'm not that interested in history books, but this was really well done. Essential for history buffs. ( )