Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross [Hardcover]

Caroline Moorehead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1999

The Red Cross was the dream of the Swiss businessman Henri Dunant that grew into the pre-eminent international humanitarian charity. The story begins in 1859, when almost by chance, Dunant witnessed the butchery and lack of care for injured soldiers during the battle of Solferino. Realizing that, although modern warfare meant more, and worse, wounded, medical treatment for the first time could save significant numbers of them, he began a crusade leading to 137 national societies and 250 million members today. Caroline Moorehead, a popular columnist on human rights for the London Independent, is the first writer to be granted wide access to the Red Cross's closed archives in Geneva. Her resulting book engrossingly recounts the Red Cross's full history and the moral dilemmas it has faced from the two World Wars to the post-Cold War conflicts of Somalia, Chechnya, and Bosnia.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When vacationing Genevan businessman Henri Dunant arrived at the resort community of Solferino, Italy, in June 1859, he certainly did not expect to find the remains of a bloody battle, concluded earlier in the day, between the Austrians and the French. The casualties, over 6,000 of them, horrified Dunant. More shocking were the survivors, left unattended on the bloody battlefield, many of them severely wounded and near death. Overcome by the brutality of the scene before him, Dunant organized and led a team of volunteers that systematically cared for the wounded. Within five years, he and four other prosperous Swiss citizens formed the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded and drafted the first Geneva Convention.

Renamed in 1876 the International Committee of the Red Cross, the organization today comprises 137 national societies and 250 million members. The Committee that governs it, however, has changed little since the 1870s. According to Caroline Moorehead, author of Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross, the power to monitor and criticize all governments of the world remains "in the hands of a small band of co-opted, elderly Swiss lawyers and bankers." While the International Committee has operated staunchly on its self-prescribed principles throughout the 20th century, many of its decisions, actions, and instances of inaction have been ambiguous and seemingly motivated by politics. In Dunant's Dream, Moorehead, a London-based journalist, presents a scrutinizing yet balanced history of the organization. Despite its length, Dunant's Dream makes no attempt to be comprehensive. Instead, Moorehead, her argument supported by unprecedented access to private Red Cross archives in Geneva, analyzes the conflicts, issues, and moral dilemmas from over 130 years of war and natural disasters that have had the most determining effect on the growth of the modern Red Cross. --Bertina Loeffler Sedlack

From Publishers Weekly

Moorehead, a columnist for London's Independent, has written a fluid, character-rich history of the Red Cross, a "movement which has no equal in size and commitment outside of organized religion." She ably shows how the Red Cross has struggled to apply the ideals originally drafted by a group of enlightened Swiss conservatives in the mid-19th century: how to serve the humanitarian needs of people in the most inhumane of situations. As Moorehead chronicles the group's triumphs and shortcomings, from its inception 130 years ago to its current activities around the world, she focuses, with a good novelist's sense of moral complexity, on the messy intersection between reality and lofty ideals as the Red Cross struggled to reconcile its mission with political constraints. She doesn't shy away from the group's worst moments, such as in 1942, when it voted not to make a public appeal on behalf of Europe's Jews (indeed, Red Cross officials, having been duped by the Nazis, wrote a glowing report after a trip to the Dachau concentration camp in 1938). Her portraits of key figures are memorable. The title refers to Henri-Jean Dunant, a failed Swiss businessman who, in his 30s, came up with the idea of the Red Cross after he witnessed the carnage of a battle in the Italian town of Solferino in 1859. In 1901, he shared the first Nobel Peace Prize ever awarded. Ultimately, Moorehead's depiction of the Red Cross echoes her appraisal of Dunant: "passionate, intemperate, foolhardy but essentially a moral figure." Her book turns the Red Cross into a revealing lens on the troubled history of the past 130 years. 32 pages of b&w photos. (May). FYI: Moorehead is the associate producer of the companion BBC TV series to Dunant's Dream.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 780 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf Pub; 1St Edition edition (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786706090
• ISBN-13: 978-0786706099
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,349,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An International Nurse Reviews "Dunant's Dream", October 4, 2002

By 

"ninondelenclos" (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross (Hardcover)

I am named after my aunt, a Red Cross nurse who was an Army nurse in World War II. I am also a nurse (and also a Red Cross nursing volunteer, although I have never worked full time for the organization), and a former officer in the Navy Nurse Corps. My speciality is international health; my work has taken me to some of the poorest and least developed places in the world. I have seen first-hand the work of the Red Cross in war zones and after natural disasters. I currently work in a human rights organization. I recently visited the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva, along with its spectacular museum.

All this is to say that I bring more than an casual perspective to this book--and it dazzled me. Despite its incredible length, it felt too short. Ms. Moorehead writes lucidly, compassionately, and well. Her research is scholarly, her documentation is meticulous, her compassion and her critical abilities are always evident. She rightfully praises the individual courage of the Red Cross founders and leaders (not only Dunant, the Swiss banker, but the other significant figures in Red Cross history, including the American nurse, Clara Barton, who founded the American Red Cross and pioneered its role in natural disasters).

But the book is not just an encomium to the good deeds of idealists. Moorehead is frank in her appraisals of the weaknesses and foibles of both the people and the organization itself. She examines the evolving role of the Red Cross, which began as an adjunct to the gentlemanly wars of the 19th century, grew to a worldwide relief agency in the unimaginable horrors of the 20th century and, most recently, has had to become a competitor for the world's glory in humantarian activities.

Most importantly, she examines the historical record and the ethical dilemnas of an organization which was founded on the Swiss principles of neutrality and quiet diplomacy and was then faced with atrocities in its own back yard: she provides a very careful appraisal of the role of the Red Cross during the WWII Holocaust. It is clear that the Red Cross as an organization provided too little aid to the victims of Nazis, gave it too late and perhaps gave it for the wrong reasons--publicity rather than compassion. (A horrendous, but little known, fact is that the physician who was appointed head of the German Red Cross by Hitler was behind the savage medical experimentation done in the camps. He committed suicide before he could be tried as a war criminal).

Nonetheless, Moorehead is unstinting in her admiration for those individual Red Cross delegates whose independent actions were able to save thousands of Jews and others. There were Red Cross delegates who raced along lines of Jews being forcibly marched to their deportation and death, desperately throwing them food and attempting to rescue anyone they could by bribing, cajoling or fooling the guards.

Moorehead depicts the failures and the multitudinous successes of the Red Cross, and includes enough individual tales and humor to make her account extraordinarily readable. Despite its failings in some arenas, I remain an overall admirer of the Red Cross itself, and I am an unabashed admirer of this book. "Dunant's Dream" can be read for its comprehensive and engrossing history, but readers interested in the larger diplomatic and ethical issues of international aid will find it invaluable. Absolutely recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth the investment..., February 24, 2010

By 

Karin Norgard "www.joy-in-motion.com" (Anchorage, Alaska, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dunants Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross (Paperback)

This book is definitely an investment of time and energy at over 700 pages long. However, depending on your interest level, it may be worth it. I decided to read this book after going through my volunteer and instructor training with the American Red Cross. I wanted to understand the history, culture, and development of the international Red Cross organization and "movement" as well as the issues it faces in dealing with wars and disasters. This book definitely did not disappoint. It offers a fascinating look at the founding of the organization as well as an in-depth look at its work in a variety of world conflicts. The focus is mostly on its work in war vs. in natural disasters, including World War I and II, Korea, Biafra, Cambodia, and others. The author admits in her introduction that there are many conflicts that are not covered. Vietnam is left out, Latin America is barely touched on, and there is only one chapter that deals specifically with the American Red Cross (in its early years). However, this book definitely provides an overview and concrete examples of the moral, ethical, political, and logistical issues this organization faces. Moorehead is indeed a good writer, but her work definitely alternates between engaging and overdone. Some chapters are so fascinating that the reading is effortless, while in just a few instances she provides too many minor details that can bog the reader down. But on the whole, her book was very enjoyable despite its length. It definitely left a hunger for more on the Red Cross' encounters in other world conflicts as well as in natural disasters. It might have been worthwhile for Moorehead to separate the book into two volumes, but that is of course the author's choice. Regardless, I feel I have been offered a unique glimpse into the Red Cross and international issues by reading this book.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Worth the Effort, November 27, 2001

By 

"brianolutheran" (St. Paul, MN United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross (Hardcover)

This book is not for the faint of heart. It is a hefty seven hundred page epic. However, I found the book spellbinding and finished reading it in less than three weeks time. I would especially recommend DUNANT'S DREAM to those interested in human rights or history. Caroline Morehead is a gifted writer who balances objectivity with revealing glimpses at the men and women who have made the International Committee of the Red Cross the premier human rights and relief agency in the world. I came away from Morehead's book with a clearer understanding of the complex circumstances involving humanitarianism during times of conflict and turmoil. I am sorry that this very worthwhile book is now out of print. However, I am glad that is available in libraries and through "out of print" dealers.