Grains - particularly maize, rice, and wheat - are the central component of most people’s diets, but we rarely stop to think about the wider role they play in national and international policy-making, as well as global issues like food security, biotechnology, and even climate change.But why are grains so important and ubiquitous? What political conflicts and economic processes underlie this dominance? Who controls the world’s supply of grains and with what outcomes? In this timely...

The growth of the global meat industry and the implications for climate change, food insecurity, workers' rights, the treatment of animals, and other issues.Global meat production and consumption have risen sharply and steadily over the past five decades, with per capita meat consumption almost doubling since 1960. The expanding global meat industry, meanwhile, driven by new trade policies and fueled by government subsidies, is dominated by just a few corporate gia...

**"Book and man are brilliant, passionate, optimistic and impatient . . . Outstanding." —The EconomistThe landmark exploration of economic prosperity and how the world can escape from extreme poverty for the world's poorest citizens, from one of the world's most renowned economists**Hailed by ***Time***as one of the world's hundred most influential people, Jeffrey D. Sachs is renowned for his work around the globe advising economies in crisis. Now ...

An expert on developing nations offers "accessible and very sensible analysis" of America's promotion of democracy abroad—and why it often fails ( Publishers Weekly).Oxford economist Paul Collier gives an eye-opening assessment of the corruption and political violence that plague developing nations across Africa, Latin America, and Asia. While many of these governments meet America's standards for democracy, Collier shows that they lack the essential infras...

"A damning denunciation of things as they are, and a platform for how we can do better."--Andrew Leonard, SalonFour years after he outlined the challenges our increasingly interdependent world was facing in Globalization and Its Discontents, Joseph E. Stiglitz offered his agenda for reform. Now in paperback, Making Globalization Work offers inventive solutions to a host of problems, including the indebtedness of developing countries, international fiscal ...

In this groundbreaking work, the Nobel Peace Prize-winner and founder of the Green Belt Movement offers a new perspective on the troubles facing Africa today. Too often these challenges are portrayed by the media in extreme terms connoting poverty, dependence, and desperation. Wangari Maathai, the author of Unbowed, sees things differently, and here she argues for a moral revolution among Africans themselves. Illuminating the complex and dynamic nature of the continent, Maathai of...

The politics of food is changing fast. In rich countries, obesity is now a more serious problem than hunger. Consumers once satisfied with cheap and convenient food now want food that is also safe, nutritious, fresh, and grown by local farmers using fewer chemicals. Heavily subsidized and underregulated commercial farmers are facing stronger push back from environmentalists and consumer activists, and food companies are under the microscope. Meanwhile, agricultural success in Asia has spur...

Completely updated and revised edition of one of the most widely-praised food books of recent years.It’s a perverse fact of modern life: There are more starving people in the world than ever before, while there are also more people who are overweight.To find out how we got to this point and what we can do about it, Raj Patel launched a comprehensive investigation into the global food network. It took him from the colossal supermarkets of California to India...

Globalization has shrunk the world in the name of free trade and broken down many of the boundaries between peoples. But it has also been a powerful driver of inequality, over-consumption and corporate control. This fully updated edition unpacks the complexities of globalization, examines the forces in whose interests it works, and provides the critical analysis for re-appraising the system.Wayne Ellwood is former co-editor of New Internationalist magazine...

The politics of food is changing fast. In rich countries, obesity is now a more serious problem than hunger. Consumers once satisfied with cheap and convenient food now want food that is also safe, nutritious, fresh, and grown by local farmers using fewer chemicals. Heavily subsidized and underregulated commercial farmers are facing stronger push back from environmentalists and consumer activists, and food companies are under the microscope. Meanwhile, agricultural success in Asia has spur...

In The Great Climate Robbery highly respected non-profit Grain connects analysis of the food system to larger issues affecting the planet, and links peoples' struggles over food to climate change.The collected articles in this book will help readers to understand the ways in which corporations seek to control the food system, and give information and analysis to challenge this control. This book features endorsements from Naomi Klein, Bill McKibben, and Vandana Shiva....

The Global Food Economy examines the human and ecological cost of what we eat.The current food economy is characterized by immense contradictions. Surplus 'food mountains', bountiful supermarkets, and rising levels of obesity stand in stark contrast to widespread hunger and malnutrition. Transnational companies dominate the market in food and benefit from subsidies, whilst farmers in developing countries remain impoverished. Food miles, mounting toxicity and the 'ecologica...