The Population Bomb is a 1968 book written by Stanford University Professor Paul R. Ehrlich and his wife, Anne Ehrlich. It predicted worldwide famine due to overpopulation, as well as other major societal upheavals, and advocated immediate action to limit population growth. Fears of a "population explosion" existed in the The '50s and The '60s, as the worldwide economy experienced a resurgence after World War II, which in turn, was ushered by The Baby Boom, but the book and its author brought the idea to an even wider audience.
The book has been criticized since its publication for its alarmist tone and in recent decades; for its inaccurate and even contrarynote predictions. Despite this and other flaws, the Ehrlichs vehemently stand by their book, stating in 2009 that "perhaps the most serious flaw in The Bomb was that it was much too optimistic about the future" as it largely overlooked Global Warming, and believe that it achieved their goals because "it alerted people to the importance of environmental issues and brought human numbers into the debate on the human future."
