Book of the Week – “Human Cargo”

The events of the past week have riveted the world – multiple terrorist murders, some of the world’s largest cities turned into battlegrounds and patrol zones, and debates – both serious and bombastic – about the refugees and migrants flowing to the developed world in massive numbers.  A bit of background reading, and a search for some perspective, is in order.  The Book of the Week recommendation for this quest is “Human Cargo” by Caroline Moorehead.

A finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, this work was produced by Moorehead’s years of on-the-ground research in some of the world’s worst places, among some of humanity’s deepest sufferers. 

Fair warning: it’s a painful and emotional read.  But, perhaps more so than ever, it is a necessary one for we in the developed world.  The author serves to remind that the pain of the refugee is unremitting and the lives they seek are ones with a fundamental level of human dignity taken too often for granted in Western society.

The large numbers of refugees and migrants fleeing war and nature’s fury will continue to swell.  This problem is very likely to get worse, at untold human cost.  In the weeks ahead this blog will spotlight the efforts of the too-few heroes trying to help, and the too-many on the sidelines averting their eyes, or listening to foolish political prattle.  If you want to know more about this subject – and you should – read “Human Cargo”.