A Story of the Red Cross

By: Clara Barton

Narrated by: S. Patricia Bailey

Clara Barton was one of those diminutive New England women of the 19th century who was determined to make the world a better place. What Susan B. Anthony was to women's suffrage and Harriet Beecher Stowe was to the cause of abolition, Clara Barton was to the humanitarian impulse of the American people to help the unfortunate victims of war and disaster. In 1881, Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross; she served as its president from 1882 to 1904. The Red Cross of today stands as a living memorial to the lifelong efforts of this valiant woman.

Miss Barton tells the story of the first 25 years of the organization which she founded. The relief offered by the organization in the Texas Famine, the Mount Vernon Cyclone, the Johnstown Flood, the Sea Island Hurricane, and the Galveston Tidal Wave is discussed in detail. The stories become all the more dramatic because they are told in Clara Barton's own words and from her point of view as an eyewitness. She lived much that she did not write, but she wrote nothing that she did not live.

(P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Who could have ever imagined

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It was written in 1904 so I was comforted in the use of the English language that is fading. The eloquent description of early disasters along with the heartfelt generosity during struggling times was a lift to my soul. I enjoyed the history of the era and would recommend this book to like minded listeners.

Inspirational

This is a charming short set of stories about how the red cross made a difference in peoples lives. The story was told by Clara Barton, the founder of the American Red Cross. It is a wonderful reminder of what a small group of caring people can do to bring about change.

Informative, interesting, sentimental

This book brought tears to my eyes on multiple occasions. Clara Barton was an excellent writer, she was a PR master before there was such a thing. She was an amazing woman or efficiently organized charity relief with selfless integrity. I was impressed with how much they were able to do back in the day without technology to help, like putting up a house & furnishing it in a matter of hours. In modern day we seem to be able to do less with more.

beautiful

i remembered thus lively book.it is a part of our history one cannot deny ata all

Fascinating Glimpse of Early Humanitarianism

This story of how the Red Cross came to America and expanded into a global concern provides a curious glimpse of early humanitarianism. It is a strange story because it is written in a language almost wholly unrecognizable to contemporary humanitarians. It is a dignified and moral cadence packer with poetic flourishes, which at first appeared jarring and almost comical. But after a couple of hours of listening, it soon came to seem a more apt language for such saintly work. By the end of the book, I found myself asking how humanitarianism ever came to be so technocratic, and how something so extraordinary ever came to be treated as a part of ordinary life.

In this way, listening to this book provided a glimpse of a road not taken in humanitarianism, which has been battered with criticism in recent years. It is a more moral and saintly road in which the work is at one and the same time glorified and yet tempered with humility, where the dignity of the person is central to the mission.

At the same, this book demonstrates the way early decisions around how political power might be maneuvered would later result in craven capitulation to the demands of dictators and murderous thugs in foreign lands. Barton was able to win over American political power with seeming ease, but the failure to criticize its abuses, and to insist that political leaders pick up the work she was taking on, would help set humanitarians on a apolitical path in grappling with challenges calling for political solutions.

All in all, this should be of interest to anyone writing on the history of humanitarianism, to critics of contemporary aid culture, and to humanitarian aid workers seeking a way to dignify the beneficiaries of their largesse.

~ Theo Horesh, author of The Holocausts We All Deny

Good story

Good story about the first years of the Red Cross. An amazing start and hopefully it holds on to those original values for years to come.

More administrative version

mild struggle to finish. would like to have read more of the personal side