Caroline Moorehead

The Great Aid Caravan

War Games: The Story of Aid and War in Modern Times

By

Viking 218pp £12.99 order from our bookshop

Two of the founding spirits of humanitarian aid, Henri Dunant and Florence Nightingale, held diametrically opposed views on how to help those caught up in wars. For Dunant, all assistance should be neutral, impartial and independent; for Nightingale, aid failed in its purpose if the warring powers concerned were able to use it to their own advantage. Though Dunant’s view prevailed, and the Geneva Conventions he inspired are accepted today by all 194 countries in the world, never has humanitarian aid been more problematic or open to manipulation, and never has so much money been spent to such troubled ends. Linda Polman’s very readable polemic, War Games, is one of the liveliest and most depressing books on the subject to appear in recent years.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'Englishmen Abroad in the Reign of Henry VIII'. Free lecture by Dr Susan Brigden, Thurs 18 Oct, 6.30pm Europe Hou… ,
    • It 'contains twists and near misses and bit-part players, everything you might expect from a true-crime story'. Ian… ,
    • Oh normally a week or two before the ceremony itself - so mid-November. ,
    • Ian Sansom reviews The Real Lolita: The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World by… ,
    • 'It is hard to think of an economist who could craft such an elegantly readable account of postwar failure as this.… ,
    • Frederick Forsyth reviews The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War by ,
    • . reviews What We Have Lost: The Dismantling of Great Britain by James Hamilton-Paterson ,
    Follow Us