The Great Starvation Experiment: Ancel Keys and the Men Who Starved for Science - Softcover

Tucker, Todd

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0816651612 ISBN 13: 9780816651610

Publisher: University of Minnesota Press, 2008

Synopsis

\u201cThe Great Starvation Experiment is wide-ranging, weaving progress in the war into the day-to-day suffering of the hungry volunteers.\u201d -Saint Paul Pioneer Press \u201cFascinating . . .\u201d -Minneapolis Star Tribune Near the end of World War II, thirty-six conscientious objectors volunteered to be systematically starved for renowned scientist Ancel Keys\u2019s study at the University of Minnesota in the basement of Memorial Stadium. Aimed to benefit relief efforts in war-ravaged Europe and Asia, the study sought the best way to rehabilitate starving citizens. Tucker captures a lost moment in American history-a time when stanch idealism and a deep willingness to sacrifice trumped even basic human needs. \u201cTucker provides a fascinating and moving history of the experiment, centering on the lives and experiences of the volunteers and the formidable obstacles they overcame. Tucker tells the story with verve and economy. . . . Keys, his experiment and his 36 starving men form a compelling combination.\u201d -Publishers Weekly Todd Tucker is the author of several books, including Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan (2004). He served on the legendary Navy submarine USS Alabama before moving to Valparaiso, Indiana.

About this title

Product Description:

Great Starvation Experiment Reprint. Originally published: New York: Free Press, c2006. Full description

Review:

"Not only has Todd Tucker uncovered an extraordinary and virtually unknown story from World War II, he has told it in a masterful way. The Great Starvation Experiment is absolutely first-rate."
-- Andrew Carroll, editor of the national bestselling War Letters and Behind the Lines

"The Great Starvation Experiment is a gracefully written account of one of the most inspiring stories of moral and political courage to emerge from the Second World War. Tucker explores questions about the nature of heroism and sacrifice that are particularly provocative and relevant now, when Americans are again waging war and facing difficult moral choices."
-- Thurston Clarke, author of Ask Not: The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America

"Courage comes in many vessels. This captivating book recalls a team of conscientious objectors who wouldn't fight -- but they would starve in the service of humanity. Part science, part philosophy, and pure human drama."
-- David Von Drehle, author of Triangle

"Unique and absorbing."
-- Alex Kershaw, author of The Longest Winter and The Bedford Boys

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Minnesota Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0816651612
• ISBN 13: 9780816651610
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 270