cover image Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger

Exodus from Hunger: We Are Called to Change the Politics of Hunger

David Beckmann, Westminster John Knox, $14.95 (192p) ISBN 978-0-664-23684-7

Though tremendous improvements in health and education have helped slow the epidemic of global hunger in recent decades, more needs to be done to help lift people out of poverty, says Beckmann, president of the antihunger advocacy group Bread for the World. Beckmann strongly supports new international efforts such as the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals, rock star Bono's ONE campaign, and programs funded through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. But he also shows how no country has made gains in staunching hunger without government antipoverty programs. Beckmann offers a multifaceted solution to domestic poverty, including citizen activism, community soup kitchens, good jobs, and government policies and programs. This book will be appreciated by church groups eager to bolster their charitable outreach, especially since it includes several inspiring vignettes of ordinary Christians doing extraordinary things to help stop hunger. The book's weakness is that it covers too much ground without offering a structured or easily applicable way forward. (Oct.)