Introduction

Abstract

In 1981, two books in particular battled to become the bestselling nonfiction book that year. According to the New York Times, the feud stood between The Beverly Hills Diet by stylish starlet Judy Maze and Never Say Diet by the charismatic and flamboyant Richard Simmons. In the shadow of this clash of dieting giants, a book about deprivation and famine was published; a book which did not make it to the bestseller list. Instead, Poverty and Famines—An Essay on Entitlements and Deprivation became one of (if not the) most influential works of famine ever published. The book was written by Indian economist and Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen. As a 10-year-old boy, he had experienced the Bengal famine of 1943 first-hand. Despite claiming the lives of more than one million people, Amartya Sen recalls how he knew of no one in his school or among his friends and relations whose family had experienced the slightest problems during the entire famine.