The Life of Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross (vol. 2 of 2)

Clara Barton walked into the Civil War with no formal medical training and changed how America understood humanitarian aid. This volume traces her transformation from a grief-stricken schoolteacher into the founder of the American Red Cross - a woman who single-handedly convinced a nation to join an international movement for neutral, impartial care of the wounded. Following the Civil War, Barton traveled to Europe seeking respite from her exhaustion and the memories of the dead. Instead she found a new mission. In the midst of the Franco-Prussian War, she discovered the International Red Cross, an organization America had ignored, and she made it her life's work to bring its ideals home. This is the story of her relentless advocacy, her battles with bureaucracy and doubt, and the founding of an institution that would forever change how nations respond to crisis. Barton refused to accept that America should remain outside this global covenant of mercy. She fought for it, and she won.