Synopses & Reviews
Every day, we wake up hungry. Every day, we break our fast. Hunger is both a natural and an unnatural human condition. In Hunger, Sharman Apt Russell explores the range of this primal experience. Step by step, Russell takes us through the physiology of hunger, from eighteen hours without food to thirty-six hours to three days to seven days to thirty days. In quiet, elegant prose, she asks a question as big as history and as everyday as skipping lunch: How does hunger work?
Review
"A fascinating, multilayered analysis....Her discussion of the biological aspects [of hunger] is concise, interesting, and free from scientific jargon." School Library Journal
Review
"Russell's readable account is a provocative blend of science and anthropology, although her gut-wrenching tales of starvation are best read on an empty stomach." Library Journal
Review
"hile the subject is often somber, the presentation is one of verve and style-and the end-of-book notes provide a useful guide for readers whose interest has been piqued." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"As Russell's extraordinarily well-crafted, far-reaching, and heart-wrenching investigation joins ranks with the revelations of global health experts...we can only hope that our hunger for knowledge and justice will lead to international efforts to eliminate this unnecessary scourge." Booklist (Starred Review)
Synopsis
Every day, we wake up hungry. Every day, we break our fast. Hunger explores the range of this primal experience. Sharman Apt Russell, the highly acclaimed author of Anatomy of a Rose and An Obsession with Butterflies, here takes us on a tour of hunger, from eighteen hours without food to thirty-six hours to seven days and beyond. What Russell finds-both in our bodies and in cultures around the world-is extraordinary. It is a biological process that transcends nature to shape the very of fabric of societies. In a fascinating survey of centuries of thought on hunger's unique power, she discovers an ability to adapt to it that is nothing short of miraculous. From the fasting saints of the early Christian church to activists like Mahatma Gandhi, generations have used hunger to make spiritual and political statements. Russell highlights these remarkable cases where hunger can inspire and even heal, but she also addresses the devastating impact of starvation on cultures around the world today. Written with consummate skill, a compassionate heart, and stocked with facts, figures, and fascinating lore, Hunger is an inspiring window on history and the human spirit.
Synopsis
Hunger is both a natural and an unnatural human condition. Sharman Apt Russell explores the range of this primal experience
About the Author
Sharman Apt Russell is the author of An Obsession with Butterflies, Anatomy of a Rose, When the Land Was Young, Kill the Cowboy, and Songs of the Fluteplayer,
winner of the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award. She teaches
writing at Western New Mexico University and at Antioch University in
Los Angeles, California. She lives in Silver City, New Mexico.