Books about Humanitarianism

  1. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace ... One School at a Time

    by Greg Mortenson
    A man's mission to build schools in remote areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan to promote peace.

    The astonishing, uplifting story of a real-life Indiana Jones and his humanitarian campaign to use education to combat terrorism in the Taliban’s backyard Anyone who despairs of the individual’s ... (Goodreads)

  2. The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History

    by Robert M. Edsel
    A thrilling true story of a team of Allied soldiers tasked with saving Europe's greatest works of art during WWII.

    At the same time Adolf Hitler was attempting to take over the western world, his armies were methodically seeking and hoarding the finest art treasures in Europe. The Fuehrer had begun cataloguing ... (Goodreads)

  3. Half of a Yellow Sun

    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    Story of two sisters navigating a civil war in Nigeria, and the effects of colonialism.

    The novel takes place in Nigeria prior to and during the Nigerian Civil War (1967–70). The effect of the war is shown through the relationships of five people's lives including the twin daughters of ... (Wikipedia)

  4. The Shadow of the Sun

    by Ryszard Kapuściński
    An epic account of a journey through Africa, navigating the continent's diverse cultures and politics.

    In 1957, Ryszard Kapuscinski arrived in Africa to witness the beginning of the end of colonial rule as the first African correspondent of Poland's state newspaper. From the early days of independence ... (Goodreads)

  5. It's What I Do: A Photographer's Life of Love and War

    by Lynsey Addario
    A photojournalist's gripping account of her time spent in war-torn countries, capturing stories of courage and resilience.

    War photographer Lynsey Addario’s memoir It’s What I Do is the story of how the relentless pursuit of truth, in virtually every major theater of war in the twenty-first century, has shaped her life. ... (Goodreads)

  6. The Ship Who Sang

    by Anne McCaffrey
    A young girl, born with severe physical disabilities, embarks on a journey to become a "brainship", a human-computer interface.

    Helva had been born human, but only her brain had been saved—saved to be schooled, programmed, and implanted into the sleek titanium body of an intergalactic scout ship. But first she had to choose a ... (Goodreads)

  7. Regarding the Pain of Others

    by Susan Sontag
    An exploration of the power and impact of photographic images of war and suffering.

    Twenty-five years after her classic On Photography , Susan Sontag returns to the subject of visual representations of war and violence in our culture today. How does the spectacle of the sufferings ... (Goodreads)

  8. Humans of New York: Stories

    by Brandon Stanton
    A collection of poignant and inspiring stories of individuals living in New York City.

    The #1, New York Times, Bestseller! With over 500 vibrant, full-color photos,, Humans of New York: Stories, is an insightful and inspiring collection of portraits of the lives of New Yorkers. Humans ... (Barnes & Noble)

  9. King Leopold's Ghost

    by Adam Hochschild
    A harrowing account of the colonization of the Congo and the exploitation of its people.

    In the 1880s, as the European powers were carving up Africa, King Leopold II of Belgium seized for himself the vast and mostly unexplored territory surrounding the Congo River. Carrying out a ... (Goodreads)

  10. Be Here Now

    by Ram Dass
    A spiritual journey exploring the power of mindfulness and how to make the most of life.

    Describes one man's transformation upon his acceptance of the principles of Yoga & gives a modern restatement of the importance of the spiritual side of human nature. Illustrated. The book is divided ... (Goodreads)

  11. Robots and Empire

    by Isaac Asimov
    A sci-fi adventure of robots and humans in a future interstellar society.

    The Earthman Elijah Baley (the detective hero of the previous Robot books) has died nearly two centuries earlier. During these two centuries, Earth-people have overcome their agoraphobia and resumed ... (Wikipedia)

  12. We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families

    by Philip Gourevitch
    True story of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and its aftermath, told through the eyes of survivors.

    In April of 1994, the government of Rwanda called on everyone in the Hutu majority to kill everyone in the Tutsi minority. Over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in the most ... (Goodreads)

  13. Stones Into Schools: Promoting Peace With Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan

    by Greg Mortenson
    True story of a man's determination to promote peace and education in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

    From the author of the #1 bestseller Three Cups of Tea , the continuing story of this determined humanitarian's efforts to promote peace through education. In this dramatic first-person narrative, ... (Goodreads)

  14. The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times

    by Jennifer Worth
    A midwife's story of bringing life into the world and the joys and struggles of living in poverty-stricken East London.

    At the age of twenty-two, Jennifer Worth leaves her comfortable home to move into a convent and become a midwife in post war London's East End slums. The colorful characters she meets while ... (Goodreads)

  15. My Own Country: A Doctor's Story

    by Abraham Verghese
    A doctor's journey of medical care given to AIDS patients in small-town America.

    My Own Country traces the story of a young infectious-disease physician in the mid-80s in Johnson City, Tennessee , who began to treat patients with a then unknown disease. Because of the seemingly ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Little Dorrit

    by Charles Dickens
    A tale of injustice, exploring the social and economic inequalities of Victorian England.

    The novel begins in Marseilles "thirty years ago" (c. 1826), with the notorious murderer Rigaud telling his prison cellmate John Baptist Cavalletto how he killed his wife, just prior to being ... (Wikipedia)

  17. Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World

    by Tracy Kidder
    A story of one man's journey to fight poverty, illness, and injustice around the world.

    At the center of Mountains Beyond Mountains stands Paul Farmer. Doctor, Harvard professor, renowned infectious-disease specialist, anthropologist, the recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, ... (Goodreads)

  18. A Cook's Tour: Global Adventures in Extreme Cuisines

    by Anthony Bourdain
    A globe-trotting exploration of exotic dishes and cultures, told with wit and humor.

    From the star of, No Reservations, Anthony Bourdain's, New York Times-,bestselling chronicle of travelling the world in search the globe's greatest cuilnary adventures The only thing "gonzo ... (Goodreads)

  19. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

    by Sheri Fink
    The gripping story of a hospital during Hurricane Katrina, examining issues of medical ethics and life-saving decisions.

    In the tradition of the best investigative journalism, physician and reporter Sheri Fink reconstructs 5 days at Memorial Medical Center and draws the reader into the lives of those who struggled ... (Goodreads)

  20. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda

    by Roméo Dallaire
    Tragic account of the Rwandan genocide from a UN peacekeeping mission commander's perspective.

    On the 10th anniversary of when UN peacekeepers landed in Rwanda, Random House Canada proudly publishes the unforgettable 1st-hand account of the genocide by the leader of the mission. Digging deep ... (Goodreads)

  21. This is Going to Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor

    by Adam Kay
    A candid and darkly humorous account of a doctor's time working in the NHS.

    Welcome to the life of a junior doctor: 97-hour weeks, life and death decisions, a constant tsunami of bodily fluids, and the hospital parking meter earns more than you. Scribbled in secret after ... (Goodreads)

  22. Shadows of the Workhouse

    by Jennifer Worth
    A nurse's journey of compassion, courage and determination amidst the harsh realities of a workhouse in 1950s London.

    In this follow up to CALL THE MIDWIFE, Jennifer Worth, a midwife working in the docklands area of East London in the 1950s tells more stories about the people she encountered. There's Jane, who ... (Goodreads)

  23. Kisses from Katie

    by Katie Davis
    A young woman's journey of faith, service, and love in the slums of Uganda.

    What would cause an eighteen-year-old old senior class president and homecoming queen from Nashville, Tennessee, to disobey and disappoint her parents by forgoing college, break her little brother’s ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Demon in the Freezer

    by Richard Preston
    A journalist investigates the dark world of bioterrorism and the search for a cure.

    The first major bioterror event in the United States-the anthrax attacks in October 2001-was a clarion call for scientists who work with “hot” agents to find ways of protecting civilian populations ... (Goodreads)

  25. The Hole in Our Gospel: What Does God Expect of Us? the Answer That Changed My Life and Might Just Change the World

    by Richard Stearns
    Investigating what it means to be a Christian and how to live out the gospel in our lives.

    What Does God Expect of Us? Is our faith just about going to church, studying the Bible and avoiding the most serious sins-or does God expect more? Have we embraced the whole gospel or a gospel with ... (Barnes & Noble)

  26. Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

    by Conor Grennan
    An inspiring account of a man's journey to reunite lost Nepalese children with their families.

    “Funny, touching, tragic….A remarkable tale of corruption, child trafficking and civil war in a far away land—and one man’s extraordinary quest to reunite lost Nepalese children with their parents.” ... (Barnes & Noble)

  27. Leap of Faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life

    by Queen Noor
    The memoir of Queen Noor, an American woman who married King Hussein of Jordan and became a queen. It tells the story of her life and her work for peace in the Middle East.

    Leap of Faith is the dramatic and inspiring story of an American woman's remarkable journey into the heart of a man and his nation.Born into a distinguished Arab-American family and raised amid ... (Goodreads)

  28. This Earth Of Mankind

    by Pramoedya Ananta Toer
    A family saga set in colonial Indonesia, exploring the effects of oppression and injustice.

    This Earth of Mankind tells the story of Minke, a Javanese minor royal who studies at a Hogere Burger School (HBS) in an era when only the descendants of the European colonizers can expect to attain ... (Wikipedia)

  29. Cause Celeb

    by Helen Fielding
    A London PR girl flees to Africa to escape a failed romance and finds herself running a refugee camp.

    Rosie Richardson works in marketing at a publisher , when she starts dating Oliver Merchant, and falls in love with him. Oliver is the host of the TV show called SoftFocus where they tackle mostly ... (Wikipedia)

  30. Peace Child: An Unforgettable Story of Primitive Jungle Teaching in the 20th Century

    by Don Richardson
    A modern-day missionary's account of his life-changing experience with a remote tribe in New Guinea.

    In 1962, Don and Carol Richardson risked their lives to share the gospel with the Sawi people of New Guinea. Peace Child tells their unforgettable story of living among these headhunters and ... (Goodreads)

  31. The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag

    by Kang Chol-Hwan
    A harrowing memoir of a young boy's decade-long imprisonment in a North Korean labor camp and his eventual escape to freedom.

    "Destined to become a classic" (Iris Chang, author of, The Rape of Nanking,), this harrowing memoir of life inside North Korea was the first account to emerge from the notoriously secretive country – ... (Goodreads)

  32. The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice

    by Christopher Hitchens
    A critical examination of the life and works of Mother Teresa, exploring her motivations and impact.

    Among his many books, perhaps none have sparked more outrage than The Missionary Position , Christopher Hitchens's meticulous study of the life and deeds of Mother Teresa. A Nobel Peace Prize ... (Goodreads)

  33. The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL

    by Eric Greitens
    A memoir of a humanitarian who becomes a Navy SEAL, exploring the intersection of compassion and strength.

    “Meet my hero—Eric Greitens. His life and this book remind us that America remains the land of the brave and generous.” — Tom Brokaw Like many young idealists, Eric Greitens wanted to make a ... (Barnes & Noble)

  34. Astray

    by Emma Donoghue
    A collection of short stories that explore the lives of wanderers, outcasts, and those who are astray from their expected paths.

    The fascinating characters that roam across the pages of Emma Donoghue's stories have all gone astray: they are emigrants, runaways, drifters, lovers old and new. They are gold miners and ... (Goodreads)

  35. Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way

    by Jon Krakauer
    Investigative report on the fraudulent activities of Greg Mortenson, author of "Three Cups of Tea" and co-founder of the Central Asia Institute.

    Greg Mortenson has built a global reputation as a selfless humanitarian and children’s crusader, and he’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He is also not what he appears to be. As acclaimed ... (Goodreads)

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