An Essay on the Principle of Population : Influences on Malthus Selections from Malthus' Work Nineteenth-Century Comment Malthus in the Twenty-First Century

In many countries, supplies of food and water are inadequate tosupport the population, so the world falls deeper and deeper into whateconomists call the "Malthusian trap," named for the writer whose work,more than any other, brought attention to the population dilemma.Philip Appleman's comprehensive introduction to Thomas Robert Malthus'seminal 1798 work traces the evolution of Malthus' idea and itsvalidity through following generations.

The text is accompanied by explanatory annotations and excerpts fromthe revised edition (1803). Key eighteenth-century influences onMalthus are reprinted, including one by Benjamin Franklin.

Nine major assessments from the nineteenth century are reprinted,including-new to the Second Edition-those of Frances Pace and HarrietMartineau.

Contemporary commentary ranges widely through many schools of thought,from Lester R. Brown, Paul and Anne Ehrlich, and Garrett Hardin toJulian Simon and Pope Paul VI. All but one of the twenty-fourselections are new to the Second Edition.

A Selected Readings list and Index are included.