History and Hope

"The pursuit of the goals of humanitarianism whether through assistance or intervention has no single way, follows no preconceived pattern. Almost by definition each experience is different. This means, more perhaps than in any other human activity, that practitioners have to be ready to learn from experience and adapt to circumstance. As the editor, contributor and inspiration of this much needed book, Kevin M. Cahill brings the insights of a clinician in tropical medicine and public health, as well as those of an academic in humanitarian studies. Standing behind the book are twelve volumes still with much relevance to present issues into which readers can delve. Kevin M. Cahill and his distinguished fellow authors have distilled in this Reader much wisdom of lasting value." -From the Foreword by Lord David Owen "This Reader is the result of the long struggle to link academia and humanitarian action. Ultimately, preserving "humanitarian space" will be imperative. Only the education of a committed cadre of trained professionals will be able to secure the traditions of neutrality, impartiality, and independence. In this Reader the history and hope of that endeavor seem to blend and rhyme into a poetic and noble assertion, one of undoubted reality but softened by the romance of universal love. The seeds of experience will, hopefully, be allowed to blossom into wisdom. Future generations will have to continue the endless effort to relieve unnecessary suffering and promote universal justice and peace. This Reader should help guide the way forward. That surely is my intent." -From the Introduction by Kevin M. Cahill, M.D.