This is the story of three terrible famines. The first is an Gorta Mór, the great hunger of Ireland, which began in 1846. The second is the deadly famine that struck Bengal in 1943. The third is the Ethiopian famine, which first sprung up in lethal form in the 1970s under Emperor Haile Selassie and then reappeared under the brutal dictator Mengistu in the 1980s. Keneally visited Eritrea in 1984 to see the effects of this grave event. Tom Keneally shares these three shocking histories with his customary penetrating wisdom, and he presents a controversial theory in his utterly compelling narrative: in all three famines, ideology, mindsets of governments, racial preconceptions and administrative incompetence were, ultimately, more lethal than the initiating blights, the loss of potatoes or rice or the grain named teff.
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"I really enjoyed this. The book is written like historical fiction so it has the feel of a "story" but is all based on the journals and records of the time. I wish the author went a little further into the future during the epilogue, but c'est la vie. " — Melanie (4 out of 5 stars)
"I really enjoyed this. The book is written like historical fiction so it has the feel of a "story" but is all based on the journals and records of the time. I wish the author went a little further into the future during the epilogue, but c'est la vie. "
" Well-structured and easy to read and understand. "
" A highly readable examination of the political impact on three modern famine: the Irish potato famine of the 1840's, the Bengali famine of 1943, and the Ethiopian famines of the 1970's and 1980's. "
" An eye-opening read that adds to his previous work on the Irish Potato Famine. "
" Probably really like 3.5 stars, but giving it 4 for the importance of the topic as a whole. "
" Okay, I now know waaaay more than I ever thought I wanted to know about the convict ships to Australia. He did give a little more of the Aborigine point of view than you normally get and that was good. "
" Interesting to hear about the British convicts that first came to Australia. Didn't care for the writing style. "
" I thought this was very interesting...very well written and enjoyable. "
" It took me several minutes to read each sentence, they were that difficult. So after several pages, I quit. Too bad, I think it could've been a good story. "
" Great historical account with popular touch. Lots of unheard stuff here. "
" The narrator of this audiobook does an excellent job providing the quoted participants with different voices. If you like history I think you'll find much to enjoy with this one. I loved it. "
" The title of this book caught my eye, especially being that it was written by the author of Schindler's List! Though I enjoyed the history presented and the amazing detail, there were several chapters that seemed to go ultra-slow for me. "
" Well written blending the engagement of a novel with the accuracy of a historical account. You read yourself into it! "
" It is interesting but not riveting, but I believe that has more to to with the subject matter rather than the writer. "
Thomas Keneally began his writing career in 1964 and has published nonfiction and more than thirty novels, including the Booker Prize winning Schindler’s Ark, which was the basis for the major motion picture Schindler’s List.
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