The Red Cross was the inspiration -- the dream -- of Henri Dunant, a 31-year-old Swiss businessman appalled by the butchery and lack of medical care for injured soldiers at the battle of Solferino in 1859. He set out to create an international organization which was to alter, irrevocably, the fate of all those wounded in every war. Caroline Moorehead is the first writer to be granted unrestricted access to the extensive Red Cross archives in Geneva. This book traces the origins of the organization, and uncovers some startling truths about the Red Cross and its relationship with some of the most horrific and barbaric political regimes of the twentieth century. It is a moving and authoritative history of the politics of conflict by an author of real distinction which sheds light not just on the Red Cross but on the nature of humanity itself.

What is the history of the Red Cross? Not some run-of-the-mill history book, Dunant's Dream reveals the inner workings and skullduggery that went into a household name.

Interesting read! ( )