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The taste of war : World War II and the battle for food / Lizzie Collingham.

By: Material type: TextTextPublication details: New York : Penguin Press, 2012.Edition: 1st American edDescription: xv, 634 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cmISBN:
  • 1594203296
  • 9781594203299
Other title:
  • World War Two and the battle for food
Subject(s):
Contents:
War and food -- Food, an engine of war -- Germany's quest for empire -- From wheat to meat -- Defeat, hunger and the legacy of the First World War -- Autarky and Lebensraum -- Herbert Backe and the hunger plan -- Genocide in the East -- Japan's quest for empire -- A radical answer to rural crisis -- One million households in Manchuria -- From Nanjing to Pearl Harbor -- Contents -- The battle for food -- American boom -- Feeding Britain -- From meat to bread and potatoes -- American dried egg and Argentinian corned beef -- The battle of the Atlantic -- The worst winter of the war -- The American lifeline -- Frozen meat versus men and arms victory in the Atlantic -- Mobilizing the British Empire -- The Middle East supply centre -- Profiteering in East Africa -- West Africa and the dollar deficit -- The Bengal famine -- Feeding Germany -- The battle for production -- The occupation of western Europe -- Greek famine and Belgian resilience -- Allies and Aryans -- Germany exports hunger to the east -- Living off the land -- Implementing the hunger plan -- The food crisis of 1941-42 -- The holocaust in Poland -- Food confiscation in the Ukraine -- Soviet collapse -- Contents -- Japan's journey towards starvation -- Rice and sweet potatoes -- Chaos and hunger in the empire -- China divided -- Nationalist collapse -- Communist survival -- The politics of food -- Japan -- starving for the Emperor -- Healthy eating as a patriotic virtue -- Churchill's rations -- The American blockade -- Guadalcanal -- New Guinea -- Burma -- Hunger on the home islands -- Surrender -- The Soviet Union -- Fighting on empty -- Feeding the Red Army -- Feeding the cities -- The American lifeline -- Perseverance despite hunger -- Germany and Britain -- two approaches to entitlement -- 1930s Britain -- a nutritional divide -- 1930s Germany -- the campaign for nutritional freedom -- The politics of rationing -- Feeding the British working classes -- Feeding the German war machine -- The black market -- The German cities -- hungry but not starving -- Contents -- The British Empire -- war as welfare -- Dr. Carrot -- guarding the British nation's health -- Closing the nutritional gap -- Health and morale -- the Army Catering Corps -- Fighting on bully beef and biscuits -- Porridge, peas and vitamins -- Nutritional reconditioning -- The Indian Army -- The United States -- out of depression and into abundance -- The "good war" -- Future hopes -- Troop welfare -- Australia -- food processing for victory -- Feeding Pacific Islanders -- The aftermath -- A hungry world -- A world of plenty -- American plenty versus European relief -- A vision for the future -- The shape of the post-war food world -- The rise of the new consumer -- A selective chronology of the Second World War.
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Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 940.531 C711 Available 33111006706358
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A New York Times Notable Book of 2012

Food, and in particular the lack of it, was central to the experience of World War II. In this richly detailed and engaging history, Lizzie Collingham establishes how control of food and its production is crucial to total war. How were the imperial ambitions of Germany and Japan - ambitions which sowed the seeds of war - informed by a desire for self-sufficiency in food production? How was the outcome of the war affected by the decisions that the Allies and the Axis took over how to feed their troops? And how did the distinctive ideologies of the different combatant countries determine their attitudes towards those they had to feed?

Tracing the interaction between food and strategy, on both the military and home fronts, this gripping, original account demonstrates how the issue of access to food was a driving force within Nazi policy and contributed to the decision to murder hundreds of thousands of 'useless eaters' in Europe. Focusing on both the winners and losers in the battle for food, The Taste of War brings to light the striking fact that war-related hunger and famine was not only caused by Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, but was also the result of Allied mismanagement and neglect, particularly in India, Africa and China.

American dominance both during and after the war was not only a result of the United States' immense industrial production but also of its abundance of food. This book traces the establishment of a global pattern of food production and distribution and shows how the war subsequently promoted the pervasive influence of American food habits and tastes in the post-war world. A work of great scope, The Taste of War connects the broad sweep of history to its intimate impact upon the lives of individuals. 

Includes bibliographical references and index.

War and food -- Food, an engine of war -- Germany's quest for empire -- From wheat to meat -- Defeat, hunger and the legacy of the First World War -- Autarky and Lebensraum -- Herbert Backe and the hunger plan -- Genocide in the East -- Japan's quest for empire -- A radical answer to rural crisis -- One million households in Manchuria -- From Nanjing to Pearl Harbor -- Contents -- The battle for food -- American boom -- Feeding Britain -- From meat to bread and potatoes -- American dried egg and Argentinian corned beef -- The battle of the Atlantic -- The worst winter of the war -- The American lifeline -- Frozen meat versus men and arms victory in the Atlantic -- Mobilizing the British Empire -- The Middle East supply centre -- Profiteering in East Africa -- West Africa and the dollar deficit -- The Bengal famine -- Feeding Germany -- The battle for production -- The occupation of western Europe -- Greek famine and Belgian resilience -- Allies and Aryans -- Germany exports hunger to the east -- Living off the land -- Implementing the hunger plan -- The food crisis of 1941-42 -- The holocaust in Poland -- Food confiscation in the Ukraine -- Soviet collapse -- Contents -- Japan's journey towards starvation -- Rice and sweet potatoes -- Chaos and hunger in the empire -- China divided -- Nationalist collapse -- Communist survival -- The politics of food -- Japan -- starving for the Emperor -- Healthy eating as a patriotic virtue -- Churchill's rations -- The American blockade -- Guadalcanal -- New Guinea -- Burma -- Hunger on the home islands -- Surrender -- The Soviet Union -- Fighting on empty -- Feeding the Red Army -- Feeding the cities -- The American lifeline -- Perseverance despite hunger -- Germany and Britain -- two approaches to entitlement -- 1930s Britain -- a nutritional divide -- 1930s Germany -- the campaign for nutritional freedom -- The politics of rationing -- Feeding the British working classes -- Feeding the German war machine -- The black market -- The German cities -- hungry but not starving -- Contents -- The British Empire -- war as welfare -- Dr. Carrot -- guarding the British nation's health -- Closing the nutritional gap -- Health and morale -- the Army Catering Corps -- Fighting on bully beef and biscuits -- Porridge, peas and vitamins -- Nutritional reconditioning -- The Indian Army -- The United States -- out of depression and into abundance -- The "good war" -- Future hopes -- Troop welfare -- Australia -- food processing for victory -- Feeding Pacific Islanders -- The aftermath -- A hungry world -- A world of plenty -- American plenty versus European relief -- A vision for the future -- The shape of the post-war food world -- The rise of the new consumer -- A selective chronology of the Second World War.

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