The Crisis Caravan - The Library of the Uncommons

Paperback, 240 pages

English language

Published Aug. 30, 2011 by Picador.

ISBN:: 978-0-312-61058-6

(1 review)

In her controversial, no-holds-barred exposé Linda Polman shows how a vast industry has grown up around humanitarian aid. The Crisis Caravan takes us to war zones around the globe, showing how aid operations and the humanitarian world have become a feature of military strategy. Impassioned, gripping, and even darkly absurd, journalist Linda Polman "gives some powerful examples of unconscionable assistance...a world where aid workers have become enablers of the atrocities they seek to relieve" (The Boston Globe).

3 editions

Bob reviewed The Crisis Caravan by Linda Polman

Good first read on the humanitarian world but lack some nuances

4 stars

This is the first book I am reading about humanitarian action, and it was worth reading! It describes a totally broken humanitarian world that end up creating incentives to do war atrocities in order to get international aid, with countless very disturbing anecdotes. This books covers humanitarian aid and development in many contexts, from Rwanda in the first chapter, to Sierra Leone, Ethiopia or Afghanistan. In all these cases, it describes very problematic and disturbing effects of humanitarian aid, concluding that humanitarian organisations can no longer hide behind their principles and have to own their actions and their consequences. I really liked this book because it was eye-opening on many issues, but I also felt it lacked nuances. Writing a book about what is going wrong with anecdotes is something, but any good understanding requires to be balanced explaining also what worked in the past, or how broken it is. …

This is the first book I am reading about humanitarian action, and it was worth reading! It describes a totally broken humanitarian world that end up creating incentives to do war atrocities in order to get international aid, with countless very disturbing anecdotes. This books covers humanitarian aid and development in many contexts, from Rwanda in the first chapter, to Sierra Leone, Ethiopia or Afghanistan. In all these cases, it describes very problematic and disturbing effects of humanitarian aid, concluding that humanitarian organisations can no longer hide behind their principles and have to own their actions and their consequences. I really liked this book because it was eye-opening on many issues, but I also felt it lacked nuances. Writing a book about what is going wrong with anecdotes is something, but any good understanding requires to be balanced explaining also what worked in the past, or how broken it is. Even if I can understand the provocative objective of the book, it felt very one-sided and lacked nuances on several topics (such as the relation with the press, or the difference between humanitarian aid and development). Still worth reading but not enough to have a complete view of the problem imho.