I just read a fascinating, sad passage from a book about life in rural Italy in 1956

[rockymountaindem]

This is from a political science work; it is not fiction or historical fiction. It is called "Moral Basis of a Backward Society" by Edward Banfield. I found this part quite sad:

"Dr. Franco Gino, the health officer of the village, says that at least 50 patients a year come to him suffereing from nothing but hunger. These people present a difficult problem. Because their stomachs are shrunken they do not feel the pangs of hunger. If they were given a diet including milk, eggs, meat, together with vitamin injections, they would soon be restored to health. But then, their stomachs having returned to normal size, they would be able to feel hunger. And because there would be no possibility of their ocntinuing the adequate diet, they would soon have to suffer the pain of returning to a state of semi-starvation. When such people come to him, Dr. Gino regretfully tells them that there is nothing he can do for them."

Hard to believe this is from just over 50 years ago in an industrialized, European state. One of the farmers the author interviewed also remarked that he wished the US had stayed to occupy Italy permanently after WWII.

[UndertheOcean]

1. That is why people who berate the green revolution and think that organic farming is enough to feed

everyone are nuts . In my humble opinion.

[rockymountaindem]

2. Well, a lot of these people were farming with oxen and donkeys on as little as 5 acres

of land. I would say that mechanization would have helped them a lot with or without the "green revolution".

That said, this book is chock full of interesting stuff about all sorts of relationships, the peasant economy, psyche etc. I'd recommend it to anyone at this point. It's the first really interesting book on my school reading list in a long time.

[faithnotgreed]

3. catches my attention right away

thank you for sharing this

does it read like a political science work or more narrative of post world war (rural italian) life

[rockymountaindem]

4. The first part is wholly narrative, the second part is political science

I'd say the author did a good job. It's definitely got a Clifford Geertz quality (that I will be sure to bring up on the exam so I can work Geertz' name in there :) )