Introduction -- 1. The Red Cross movement: continuities, changes and challenges -- 2. Certainty, compassion and the ingrained arrogance of humanitarians -- Part I: The Movement's foundational 'myths' -- 3. The Americans lead the way? The United States Sanitary Commission and the development of the Red Cross movement, 1861-1871 -- 4. Intertwined stories of war humanitarianism: the British Order of St John of Jerusalem and the Red Cross in the Spanish Civil Wars of the 1870s -- 5. The early history of the Red Cross Society of China and its relation to the Red Cross Movement -- 6. Failure to launch: the American Red Cross in an era of contested neutrality, 1914-1917 -- Part II: Turning points -- 7. Challenging the colonial and the international: the American Red Cross in the last war of Cuban independence (1895-98) -- 8. Re-alignment in the aftermath of war: the League of Red Cross Societies, the Australian Red Cross and its Junior Red Cross in the 1920s -- 9. The 'British Red Cross still exists', 1947-74: finding a role after the Second World War -- 10. Feed the hungry - no matter what? The Norwegian Red Cross and Biafra, 1967-70 -- Part III: The Red Cross' modus operandi -- 11. 'A Cog in the Great Wheel of Mercy': the New Zealand Red Cross and the International Red Cross movement -- 12. Coming of age in the crucible of war: The First World War and the expansion of the Canadian Red Cross Society's humanitarian vision -- 13. The 1938 International Committee of the Red Cross Conference: Humanitarian diplomacy and the cultures of appeasement in Britain -- 14. '£50,000 is too small a fine to pay': the British Red Cross and the Spanish refugees of 1939 -- 15. The British Red Cross Society and the 'parcels crisis' of 1940-1 -- 16. The Red Cross in wartime Macau and its global connections -- 17. A humanitarian and national obligation: a comparison between the Dutch Red Cross, 1940-5, and the Dutch East-Indies Red Cross, 1942-50.

"Reimagining and re-evaluating the Red Cross as a global institutional network, this volume charts the rise of the Red Cross and analyses the emergence of humanitarianism through a series of turning points, practices and myths. The contributors explore the three unique elements that make up the Red Cross Movement: the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent formerly known as the League of Red Cross Societies (both based in Geneva) and the 192 national societies. With chapters by leading scholars and researchers from Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and America, the book offers a timely account of this unique, complex and contested organisation." -- taken from back cover.