Let Them Eat Promises: The Politics of Hunger in America.

by Nick Kotz

Tight Binding, Limited Chipping or Tears to Edges, Limited Markings (price crossed out on cover and new price written in; owner's name and info on front page), Limited Creasing

Genres: Nonfiction, Food

Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Nathan "Nick" K. Kotz was an American journalist, author, and historian.

Reviews

[Michael Lortz · Rating 4 out of 5]

As I read this, I thought "why don't they feed the kids?".

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book was published in 1969 and is long since out of print, but it provides a detailed account of how hunger issues appeared on the national agenda in the mid-1960s and how Richard Nixon finally was the one who agreed to tackle the problem. The politics of hunger was much more closely related to the Civil Rights Movement than I realized. When the Rev. Ralph Abernathy created an encampment in Washington, many of the protests were outside of the Department of Agriculture, of all places. And many of the opponents of addressing hunger issues were Southern Democrats who did not want to allow that hunger was a problem and certainly did not want to give anything away to Black people.

Among the many striking things in this account are: (1) how little was known about the extent of the hunger problem in the U.S. before 1968, (2)how much our national food policy at the time was seen exclusively in terms of support for farmers, and(3) how many characters in this book are still on the national scene. The young lawyer Marian Wright (working then for the NAACP) plays a key role, so does her now-husband, Peter Edelman (then an aide to Robert Kennedy). More surprising is the Nixon's Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity, Donald Rumsfeld.

[Downward · Rating 3 out of 5]

let them eat promises is an examination of the politics of hunger in america in the late '60s, but it functions as a horror novel that catalogues the indifference of the nation's mosr powerful politicians as they make excuse after excuse to not solve the problem. political life is rendered as a sustained effort at keeping your head buried in the sand as a means of avoiding the confrontation of humanity. this sort of evil indifference to those who need the most crosses political boundaries; a willingness to ignore the needs of our nation's hungry is presented as a bipartisan agreement. most horrifying is how relevant this book is on a chapter by chapter basis, whether it be the concept of a living wage or the excuses one gives to not lend a hand to the poor. this book depressed the shit out of me, frankly. for a statistical treatise of the past, it was only boring in minor doses. it took me a long time to finish, but i'm darn glad i did.