“Memorable… The book is a close-up look at efforts to vanquish hunger amid both major, front-page disasters, such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake and the Syrian civil war, and the countless lower-profile calamities that are documented on the inside pages, if at all… What makes The New Breadline so compelling, though, are… the small details Bauer shares from a realm that usually operates out of the public eye… One effect of this book is to leave the reader oddly hopeful about the prospects for mitigating these nightmares, having given us a glimpse of the deeply committed people working to overcome them, again and again.”
—Alec MacGillis, New York Times Book Review
“No subject more urgently requires our attention than world hunger. I cannot imagine a more thoughtful and humane introduction to the crisis of food security than The New Breadline.”
—Jonathan Safran Foer, author of We Are the Weather
“In the midst of the global food crisis, I find myself searching for stories of hope with tangible solutions now more than ever. In The New Breadline, Jean-Martin Bauer draws upon a lifetime on the frontlines of fighting hunger to deliver a must-read handbook that will inform, inspire, and ignite action to repair our broken food system.”
—José Andrés, Chef and Founder of World Central Kitchen
“The New Breadline is a narratively-compelling, timely, and prescriptive book about the problems of hunger and food security in today’s world. Bauer writes with intelligence and brio about a topic he knows extremely well. Drawing on a superb grasp of history and his own experiences as a humanitarian worker who has dealt with food crises around the world—everywhere from Haiti and the Middle East to Africa—Bauer offers practical pathways to hope.”
—Jon Lee Anderson, author of The Fall of Baghdad
“Hunger should be a historical topic but Jean-Martin Bauer evocatively positions it as a core facet of our modern world. His unique vantage point — that of a front-line humanitarian leader — brings an analysis informed by hard ground truths to this urgent topic. Humanitarians, development leaders, and anyone who cares about hunger and the forces that drive it will find this book illuminating and important.
—Raj Kumar, President & Editor-in-Chief of Devex
“Few writers tackle the world of international hunger, and Jean-Martin Bauer has seen what they’ve missed. His years on the frontlines in battle against malnutrition have made him acutely sensitive to what works, and what doesn’t. But Bauer weaves his knowledge into prose that reads like he’s sharing stories late at night under a kerosene lamp. The New Breadline is a tremendous book that’ll linger long after you’ve turned the last page.”
—Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved
“In The New Breadline, Jean-Martin Bauer gives us a fascinating portrait of international aid and the complications, contradictions, and casual heroism that underpin the global fight to end hunger. Swinging easily from the personal to the political, weaving rich history with lived experience, and crisscrossing the global without flattening it, Bauer manages to transform complex geopolitical forces into a page turner. The New Breadline offers no simplistic answers and will complicate easy pictures of right and wrong, but never withholds glimpses of joy and hope. A must read for anyone interested in foreign food aid, for anyone who wants to understand our global food supply chain, for anyone who eats and wants to appreciate their food. Bravo.”
—Benjamin Lorr, author of The Secret Life of Groceries
“A clear-voiced call for ways to address the urgent need to feed billions of hungry people.”
—Kirkus
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