Night on Earth
A History of International Humanitarianism in the Near East, 1918–1930

Reveals how international 'relief' and 'development' became intertwined in humanitarian programs in the Near East from 1918 to 1930.

Davide Rodogno (Author)

9781108498913, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 9 December 2021

484 pages
23.5 x 15.5 x 3 cm, 0.81 kg

'Rodogno's book is humane scholarship at its best. Here is a brilliant account of the limitations on efforts to provide humanitarian aid in the Middle East in the period of the Great War.' Jay Winter, author of Sites of Memory, Sites of Mourning

Night on Earth is a broad-ranging account of international humanitarian programs in Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Near East from 1918 to 1930. Davide Rodogno shows that international 'relief' and 'development' were intertwined long before the birth of the United Nations with humanitarians operating in a region devastated by war and famine and in which state sovereignty was deficient. Influenced by colonial motivations and ideologies these humanitarians attempted to reshape entire communities and nations through reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes. The book draws on the activities of a wide range of secular and religious organisations and philanthropic foundations in the US and Europe including the American Relief Administration, the American Red Cross, the Quakers, Save the Children, the Near East Relief, the American Women's Hospitals, the League of Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Introduction
1. A Loose Configuration of Humanitarian Actors
2. From Repatriation to Resettlement of Ottoman Armenians: War, Diplomacy and the Mandate that Never Was
3. The Near East Relief
4. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
5. Relief and Rehabilitation in Transcaucasia, 1919–1929
6. The American Red Cross in Jerusalem and Palestine, 1918–1921
7. International Humanitarian Actors in Beirut, Aleppo and Cilicia: Relief and Rehabilitation of Ottoman Armenians
8. The Revealing History of an Allied Fact-finding Mission in the Sea of Marmara and a Lone Delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross
9. International Humanitarian Operations in Greece Before and After the Summer of 1922
10. Rehabilitation Without Relief: Seeking International Humanitarianism in Greece after 1923
11. The American Women's Hospitals from Marconissi Quarantine Island to Public Health Work
12. Modernization, Technical Assistance and Development avant la letter: The Near East Foundation
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], European history [HBJD]