The American Red Cross from Clara Barton to the New Deal

"Traces the organization's history from its founding in 1881 to the 1930s."

"A cogent review of the complicated evolution of the American Red Cross... Jones skillfully dissects the origins, principles, and practices shaping the contemporary ARC... The book is especially strong in explaining how national and international situations enhanced the ARC's possibilities and constrained its potential."

"Jones has, therefore, written a significant book that should challenge historians to consider anew the intertwined development of national disaster responses and social welfare policies, and to better understand the inherent complexity of humanitarian aid"

"Jones’s book is a valuable narrative and reference for scholars of humanitarianism, disaster, and volunteerism."

"A cogent review of the complicated evolution of the American Red Cross... Jones skillfully dissects the origins, principles, and practices shaping the contemporary ARC."

"While specialists will welcome The American Red Cross as a well-researched and analytical treatment of the principal U.S. humanitarian organization, the book should also appeal to popular audiences. Jones tells a fascinating and approachable story."

"This book provides a carefully researched examination of the particular path taken by the American Red Cross up to the Second World War. This is less a history of American exceptionalism than an illustration of the diversity of projects that operated under the banner of the Red Cross in this period."

"Well-researched and accessible in its writing, Jones's history of the ARC offers the reader – both inside and outside academia – a thorough and up-to-date examination of one of the most important voluntary associations in the history of the United States."

"The most current, comprehensive institutional history—a rich account of experiences on the ground that shows how American Red Cross structure and policies played out unevenly in situations where racism, paternalism, and anti-dependency arguments framed the provision of disaster relief."