Synopses & Reviews
An arresting portrait of the lives of today's refugees and a searching look into their future
The word refugee is more often used to invoke a problem than it is to describe a population of millions of people forced to abandon their homes, possessions, and families in order to find a place where they may, quite literally, be allowed to live. In spite of the fact that refugees surround us-the latest UN estimates suggest that 20 million of the world's 6.3 billion people are refugees-few can grasp the scale of their presence or the implications of their growing numbers.
Caroline Moorehead has traveled for nearly two years and across four continents to bring us their unforgettable stories. In prose that is at once affecting and informative, we are introduced to the men, women, and children she meets as she travels to Cairo, Guinea, Sicily, the U.S./Mexico border, Lebanon, England, Australia, and Finland. She explains how she came to work and for a time live among refugees, and why she could not escape the pressing need to understand and describe the chain of often terrifying events that mark their lives. Human Cargo is a work of deep and subtle sympathy that completely alters our understanding of what it means to have and lose a place in the world.
Caroline Moorehead, a distinguished biographer, has served as a columnist on human rights for The Times (London) and The Independent (London). More recently, she has worked directly with African refugees in Cairo as a founder of a legal advice office in addition to raising funds for a range of educational projects. She is the author of Gellhorn and lives in London. A National Book Critics Circle Award Nominee In Human Cargo, Caroline Moorehead takes readers on a journey to understand why millions of people are forced to abandon their homes, possessions, and families in order to fins a place where they may, quite literally, be allowed to live. In spite of the fact that refugees surround usrecent UN estimates suggest that their numbers approach 20 millionfew grasp the scale of their presence. Moorehead's experience living and working with refugees puts a human face on the news, providing indelible portraits of not only refugees but also the countries from which they fled, as well as those that host them, the men and women who help them, and, finally, those who have not.
Moorehead has traveled for nearly two years and across four continents to bring us these unforgettable stories. In prose that is at once affecting and informative, she introduces us to the men, women, and children she meets as she travels to Cairo, Guinea, Sicily, the U.S.-Mexico border, Lebanon, England, Australia, and Finland. Among others, we learn about Salaam, an Iraqi Catholic persecuted by Saddam Hussein's regime, and his struggle to reach San Diego through Mexico with his sister; and Mary, a fifty-year-old American who works with the International Rescue Committee in Guinea to provide schooling for refugees from Iran who escaped a Tehran prison to establish a trauma center in England for victims of torture.
Moorehead vividly illustrates why the "problem" of 20 million people stuck in limbounable to work, educate their children, or otherwise contribute to societyis on a par with global crises such as terrorism and world hunger. Human Cargo is a work of deep and subtle sympathy that completely alters our understanding of what it means to have and lose a place in the world. "One of the most moving and illuminating accounts of people out of place. In documenting the complexity of their condition, [Moorehead] deciphers their full humanity. And she captures the workings of the refugee system through the people who work in it and navigate constraints on budgets and quotas, and their tempers."Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago and author of Globalization and Its Discontents "[A] humane and touching book."The Star-Ledger (Newark) "A profound book."John Freeman, The Hartford Courant "Often compelling . . . with one poignant tale after another."Rich Barlow, The Boston Globe "One of the most moving and illuminating accounts of people out of place. In documenting the complexity of their condition, [Moorehead] deciphers their full humanity. And she captures the workings of the refugee system through the people who work in it and navigate constraints on budgets and quotas, and their tempers."Saskia Sassen, Ralph Lewis Professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago and author of Globalization and Its Discontents "Moorehead's lyrical, moving narrative brings to life the horror that many [refugees] fled, the obstacles they have had to overcome, and the medical and social consequences of their condition . . . Recommended for all collections in current affairs."Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Library, New York, Library Journal "The intractable, multifaceted problem of people driven from their homes by poverty, violence or persecution is given a human face in this moving survey of the refugee experience . . . Moorehead draws sympathetic portraits of individual refugees, replete with horror stories of the travails they fled and their precarious but hopeful efforts to build new lives, but also pulls back to examine what she says are the sometimes counterproductive policies of aid organizations and the indifference and callousness of Western governments."Publishers Weekly "British writer Moorehead is a superb biographer, most recently of writer of conscience Martha Gellhorn, and a newspaper columnist who has been writing about human rights for 25 years. She now presents a landmark overview of the fate of refugees as millions of people all around the world are either searching for a better life or seeking asylum after surviving persecution, rape, torture, and genocidal massacres . . . Painstaking in her marshalling of facts and unflinching in her reportage, Moorehead purposefully illuminates the suffering endured by refugees and all the travesties, paradoxes, and tragedies engendered by the failure to act on their behalf . . . Moorehead's lucid reporting and focus on individuals make this survey of the fate of refugees accessible for advanced [younger] readers interested in public affairs and humanitarian issues."Donna Seaman, Booklist (starred review) "Journalist and biographer Moorehead provides a passionate brief on behalf of millions of refugees across the globe. . . Her unflinching depiction of cases without end and governments without mercy recalls the works of Kafka, Dickens, and Naipaul. Dozens of portraits give sinew and voice to representative examples of this human flotsam. Mothers quietly mourn babies they were forced to leave on the roadside; young men stare sullenly, unable to comprehend how to get out of their camps; and children grapple with traumatic memories of torture and death. It is nearly impossible not to be moved by such plights . . . she evokes refugees' chaotic and miserable conditions with searing power, as in this description of Cairo: 'Wherever the buildings are most derelict, the electricity supplies most sporadic, the water least reliable, there the refugees live.' A compassionate and sterling chronicler rescues from faceless
Review
"One of the most moving and illuminating accounts of people out of place. In documenting the complexity of their condition, she deciphers their full humanity. And she captures the workings of the refugee system through the people who work in it and navigate constraints on budgets and quotas, and their tempers."
--Saskia Sassen, author of Globalization and its Discontents
Review
"Unflinching in her reportage, Moorehead purposefully illuminates the suffering endured by refugees and all the travesties, paradoxes, and tragedies engendered by the failure to act on their behalf."--
Booklist (starred review)
"[Moorehead] knows how to grip the reader's attention and haunt their dreams. . . . [She] is unafraid to look into the darkest corners of the world and make us want to look too."--Daily Telegraph
"The breadth of Moorehead's reporting is impressive, the intimate glimpses of struggle and resilience indelible."--O magazine
"Humane and touching . . . Moorehead puts a human face on this determined population."--The Star-Ledger (Newark)
Synopsis
An arresting portrait of the lives of today's refugees and a searching look into their future
The word refugee is more often used to invoke a problem than it is to describe a population of millions of people forced to abandon their homes, possessions, and families in order to find a place where they may, quite literally, be allowed to live. In spite of the fact that refugees surround us-the latest UN estimates suggest that 20 million of the world's 6.3 billion people are refugees-few can grasp the scale of their presence or the implications of their growing numbers.
Caroline Moorehead has traveled for nearly two years and across four continents to bring us their unforgettable stories. In prose that is at once affecting and informative, we are introduced to the men, women, and children she meets as she travels to Cairo, Guinea, Sicily, the U.S./Mexico border, Lebanon, England, Australia, and Finland. She explains how she came to work and for a time live among refugees, and why she could not escape the pressing need to understand and describe the chain of often terrifying events that mark their lives. Human Cargo is a work of deep and subtle sympathy that completely alters our understanding of what it means to have and lose a place in the world.
Synopsis
In this arresting portrait of the lives of today's refugees, Moorehead pens a work of deep and subtle sympathy that completely alters readers' understanding of what it means to have and lose a place in the world.
Synopsis
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Traveling for nearly two years and across four continents, Caroline Moorehead takes readers on a journey to understand why millions of people are forced to abandon their homes, possessions, and families in order to find a place where they may, quite literally, be allowed to live. Moorehead's experience living and working with refugees puts a human face on the news, providing unforgettable portraits of the refugees she meets in Cairo, Guinea, Sicily, Lebanon, England, Australia, Finland, and at the U.S.-Mexico border. Human Cargo changes our understanding of what it means to have and lose a place in the world, and reveals how the refugee "problem" is on a par with global crises such as terrorism and world hunger.
About the Author
Caroline Moorehead is the author of
Gellhorn, and has been a columnist covering human rights for two British newspapers. She has worked directly with African refugees in Cairo in recent years. She lives in London.