Ending World Hunger

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-- A useful, comprehensive summary of a complex problem, and one that is well documented and well balanced. Aaseng covers all the basic points: the clinical definition of hunger, its causes and physical effects on people, a case study of Ethiopia, hunger in history, past and future technological efforts, and prospects for solutions. Rather than concentrating on any one factor, he shows how they aggravate each other and affect other problems. Aaseng also makes it clear that overpopulation is just as much a result of as it is a cause of hunger; children are the only ``old age insurance'' the poor can afford, and since many die, they must give birth to more to assure that some will survive. Most effectively of all, he shows how the values a society holds determine its actions. Arguments for all sides are presented fairly, although no individual is quoted anywhere. Instead, Aaseng gives over 175 footnotes, plus an up-to-date bibliography that covers both technical and moral issues. Fine's The Hunger Road (Atheneum, 1988) is a highly personal eyewitness account that is long on humanizing detail and very short on analysis. World Hunger and Social Justice (GEM, 1986) presents a series of viewpoints that delve into the political and moral controversies involved, but gives little information on the technical problems. Thus, this book can fill an important need for a timely, balanced, comprehensive treatment of a critical subject. --Jonathan Betz-Zall, Sno-Isle Regional Library System, Edmonds, WA