Synopses & Reviews
Bread from Stones, a highly anticipated book from historian Keith David Watenpaugh, breaks new ground in analyzing the theory and practice of modern humanitarianism. Genocide and mass violence, human trafficking, and the forced displacement of millions in the early twentieth century Eastern Mediterranean form the background for this exploration of humanitarianismand#8217;s role in the history of human rights.
Watenpaughand#8217;s unique and provocative examination of humanitarian thought and action from a non-Western perspective goes beyond canonical descriptions of relief work and development projects. Employing a wide range of source materialsand#151;literary and artistic responses to violence, memoirs, and first-person accounts from victims, perpetrators, relief workers, and diplomatsand#151;Watenpaugh argues that the international answer to the inhumanity of World War I in the Middle East laid the foundation for modern humanitarianism and the specific ways humanitarian groups and international organizations help victims of war, care for trafficked children, and aid refugees.and#160;
Bread from Stones is required reading for those interested in humanitarianism and its ideological, institutional, and legal origins, as well as the evolution of the movement following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the advent of late colonialism in the Middle East.
Synopsis
"From the vantage point of the Eastern Mediterranean and the aftermath of the Armenian genocide, Keith Watenpaugh has rethought the history of humanitarianism and produced the most moving and textured account of it to date. With its penetrating contributions to a series of burning discussionsand#151;from America's role in the world to the origins of human rights to the fight against trafficking in women and childrenand#151;
Bread from Stones is a brilliant demonstration of the suppressed politics of humanitarianism and its failure to bring empowered citizenship, and not merely intermittent caring, to those who need it."and#151;Samuel Moyn, Professor of Law and History at Harvard University and author of
The Last Utopia: Human Rights in History "Striking a fine balance between deep analysis, empirical evidence, and real life stories, this fascinating book brings the Levant from the periphery to the center of the humanitarian experience in the twentieth century. Bread from Stones is an outstanding piece of scholarship and will likely become one of the standard accounts in the field."and#151;G. Daniel Cohen, Associate Professor of History at Rice University and author of In Warand#8217;s Wake: Europe's Displaced Persons in the Postwar Order
About the Author
Keith David Watenpaugh is a historian, Associate Professor of Human Rights Studies, and Director of the Human Rights Initiative at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Being Modern in the Middle East and has published in the American Historical Review, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Journal of Human Rights, Social History, and Humanity.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface and Acknowledgments
Note on Translation and Transliteration
List of Abbreviations
1. The Beginnings of the Humanitarian Era in the Eastern Mediterranean
2. The Humanitarian Imagination and the Year of the Locust: International Relief in the Wartime Eastern Mediterranean, 1914and#150;1918
3. The Form and Content of Suffering: Humanitarian Knowledge, Mass Publics, and the Report, 1885and#150;1927
4. and#147;Americaand#8217;s Wardsand#8221;: Near East Relief and American Humanitarian Exceptionalism, 1919and#150;1923
5. The League of Nations Rescue of Trafficked Women and Children and the Paradox of Modernand#160;Humanitarianism, 1920and#150;1936
6. Between Refugee and Citizen: The Practical Failures of Modern Humanitarianism, 1923and#150;1939
7. Modern Humanitarianismand#8217;s Troubled Legacies, 1927and#150;1948
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index