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From Publishers Weekly
This mostly admiring portrait of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (aka MSF), the nonprofit that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, emphasizes the inner workings of the organization and is animated by interviews with mid-level staffers and by site visits to MSF projects in Angola, Afghanistan and Pakistan. In between, journalist Bortolotti traces the history of the world's largest independent medical humanitarian organization, whose genesis was the Biafran horrors of the late '60s. Histrionic founder Bernard Kouchner (whom Bortolotti didn't interview) left the group in 1979 after disputes about tactics; not until the early 1990s did MSF spread to North America. Only about a quarter of field volunteers are, in fact, doctors, and most staff are local hires rather than foreigners. MSF volunteers resist being described as heroic ("It's not noble; it's an attempt," one says) but acknowledge that the crucible of crisis does test character. Some stories (illustrated by stock-looking photos, including two color inserts) are grimly poignant: a middle-aged surgeon tells of relying on his lower-tech training to perform surgery in Sri Lanka and Liberia; a logistician describes how to negotiate with drugged-up child soldiers at a Sierra Leonian checkpoint. While Bortolotti could have been clearer, for example, on the mechanics of MSF's fund-raising apparatus, he notes that even critics of humanitarian aid admire MSF for attempting to intervene under seemingly impossible circumstances.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
From Booklist
*Starred Review* It may be difficult to read this book, not because it is poorly written--it is in fact the inspired opposite--but because it makes the meager number of volunteers comprising Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) look like the last hope for millions who suffer subhuman living conditions and death, visited upon them by tyrants and thugs more often than by natural disaster. Born in France nearly 30 years ago, MSF, known in the U.S. as Doctors without Borders, struggles to remain true to its philosophy of delivering humanitarian aid divorced from all political affiliation. Still, the notion that humanitarianism can be totally agenda free presents constant challenges for the international group as it struggles to dispense essential medical services to places where no other such providers dare to go. Bortolotti says the Congo is one of the "greatest humanitarian disasters of our time" and the South Sudan is "another planet"-- places where, but for MSF, there would be no hope for thousands. Much of what Bortolotti reports is noticeably absent from the daily headlines, so this eye-opening account is all the more chilling, and MSF's efforts achingly more compelling. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
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First Sentence
Dr. James Knox slings his medical kit across his back and begins the 10-minute walk to the tiny health center in Cuimba. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Dr. James Knox slings his medical kit across his back and begins the 10-minute walk to the tiny health center in Cuimba. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stories that need telling,
By A Customer
This review is from: Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders (Hardcover)
I found this text to be an eye-opening look at some of the most troubled places on earth. Some of the stories were difficult to read due to their graphic nature but my complements to the author for portraying the truth in all its gore. I also found the accounts of the volunteers' motivations for doing what they do to be most interesting. Not what I expected; an excellent book.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Exactly what it should have been,
By FuzzieLogic (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders (Hardcover)
I originally picked this book up on a whim from the library, and I liked it to the point where I'm purchasing a copy to keep. As a Canadian entering undergrad who is thinking about medical school, MSF has always been on my mind as a very distant but compelling possibility. Perhaps it's just my interest in the subject, but I was completely drawn in from the first page and finished the book in one sitting. I think the writing is the perfect balance between objective and human - the writer probably gives the closest I will ever get to a firsthand, eyewitness account of what working with Medecins Sans Frontieres would be like, short of actually joining MSF myself. The descriptions of poverty and human cruelty (and they are rightfully abundant in this book) will impact you, and I can only imagine what it must have been like to actually experience these events. The people who make up MSF rightfully deserve all the respect that is accorded to them - if anything, we don't recognize their work enough.There are interesting tidbits about the history of the organization, plenty of beautiful colour photographs, and some comical anecdotes to lighten the mood of the book, but its value definitely lies in the candid descriptions of the dark things that MSF sees, as well as reminders of all the non-medical personnel in the organization, forgotten by the press, without whom MSF's mission would be impossible. If you're thinking of donating to an NGO, if you're currently practicing medicine or thinking about it, or simply a human being from any walk of life with compassion for those who suffer in the world, give this book a go. The title could not be any more fitting - Hope in Hell is a stark reminder of the fact that vast suffering still remains in our world, but that there are amazing people who refuse to give up in the fight against it.
4.0 out of 5 stars
really enjoyed it,
By Ashley in Canada (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Hope in Hell: Inside the World of Doctors Without Borders (Hardcover)
This book is an excellent read -- I learned a lot about how MSF came to be and what they've been doing. And, how they stand apart from other int'l health relief agencies. But it's no dull history book! I really enjoyed the different stories from MSF volunteers trying to deliver care under every circumstance imaginable. Definitely recommeded!
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