Introduction : humanitarian approaches to hunger -- From the classical soup kitchen to the Irish famine -- Justus Liebig and the rise of nutritional science -- Governing the diet in Victorian institutions -- Colonialism and communal strength -- Social nutrition at the League of Nations -- Military feeding during World War Two -- The medicalization of hunger and the postwar period -- High modernism and the development decade -- Low modernism after Biafra -- Small-scale devices and the low modernist legacy -- Conclusion : on an empty stomach. "This book examines the practical techniques humanitarians have used to manage and measure starvation, from Victorian soup kitchens to space-age, high-protein foods. Tracing the evolution of these techniques since the start of the nineteenth century, the book argues that humanitarianism is not a simple story of progress and improvement, but is profoundly shaped by sociopolitical conditions"-- | 
