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A Bed for the Night
A Bed for the Night
Jan 14, 2025 7:07 AM

Author:David Rieff

A Bed for the Night

Timely and controversial, A Bed for the Night reveals how humanitarian organizations trying to bring relief in an ever more violent and dangerous world are often betrayed and misused, and have increasingly lost sight of their purpose.

Drawing on first-hand reporting from hot war zones around the world - Bosnia, Rwanda, Congo, Kosovo, Sudan and, most recently, Afghanistan - David Rieff shows us what humanitarian aid workers do in the field and the growing gap between their noble ambitions and their actual capabilities for alleviating suffering. Tracing the origins of major humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and CARE, he describes how many of them have moved from their founding principle of neutrality, which gave them access to victims, to encouraging the international community to take action to stop civil wars and ethnic cleansing.

Rieff demonstrates how this advocacy has come at a high price. By overreaching, the humanitarian movement has allowed itself to be hijacked by the major powers, sometimes to become a fig leaf for actions that major powers take in their own national interests, as in Afghanistan, sometimes for their inaction, as in Bosnia and Rwanda. With the exception of cases of genocide, where the moral imperative to act overrides all other considerations, Rieff contends that if humanitarian organisations are to continue doing what they do best - alleviating suffering - they must remain independent.

Reviews

Thoughtful and eminently readable

—— Washington Post

An achievement of profound intelligence and courage of conviction

—— Nadine Gordimer

A Bed for the Night provides an excellent antidote to the hollow cliches and generalizations that often blur and distort the horribly real problems of helping the world's most afflicted people

—— Brian Urquhart, former Undersecretary General of the United Nations

An absorbing and thoughtful book. David Rieff has taken a great subject - exile, in this case the exile of Cubans in Miami - and been fully responsive and responsible to it. Paradise lost is a great theme.and David Rieff has treated it with Miltonic assurance. It is a book to be savoured and reread

—— Larry McMurtry

A thorough account of the origins of the financial crisis. Helps explain the most troubling headlines of the moment, as well as those that are certain to come.

—— New York Times

Joe Nocera is the best business writer alive

—— Jim Cramer

Find out why channelling our 'inner goddess' could lead to happiness and success in the workplace.

—— The Pool

The fab Mary Portas calls us to arms.

—— Jeanette Winterson

If anyone knows how to get ahead in business it's 'Queen of Shops' Mary Portas.

—— Huff Post

A blistering attack on corrupt politicians, the death penalty and the failures of the judicial system

—— The Daily Telegraph

Spectacular

—— Mirror

Truth really is much more complex and interesting than fiction

—— The Mail on Sunday

Grisham's own indignation and sorrow come through strongly, and there is a sense that this is a book he very much wanted to write.

—— Evening Standard

His prose is lean and fast-paced and his skilful sketches capture all you need to know about the characters. Grisham lets this gripping story tell itself.

—— Sunday Telegraph

An indispensable and up-to-the-minute account of how the technology underlying bitcoin could - and should - unleash the true potential of a digital economy for distributed prosperity

—— Douglas Rushkoff , author of Present Shock and Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus

Technological change that used to develop over a generation now hits us in a relative blink of the eye, and no one tells this story better than the Tapscotts

—— Eric Spiegel , President and CEO of Siemens USA

Few leaders push us to look around corners the way Don Tapscott does. With Blockchain Revolution he and his son Alex teach us, challenge us and show us an entirely new way to think about the future

—— Bill McDermott , CEO of SAP SE

Blockchain Revolution is a brilliant mix of history, technology and sociology that covers all aspects of the blockchain protocol - an invention that in time may prove as momentous as the invention of printing

—— James Rickards , author of Currency Wars and The Death of Money

Blockchain Revolution serves as an atlas to the world of digital money, masterfully explaining the current landscape while simultaneously illuminating a path forward toward a more equitable, efficient and connected global financial system

—— Jim Breyer , CEO of Breyer Capital

Blockchain Revolution is the indispensable and definitive guide to this world-changing technology

—— Jerry Brito , Executive Director of Coin Center

Incredible. Really incredible. The Tapscotts' examination of the blockchain as a model for inclusion in an increasingly centralised world is both nuanced and extraordinary

—— Steve Luczo , Chairman and CEO of Seagate Technology

Makes a powerful case for blockchain's ability to increase transparency but also ensure privacy. In the authors' words 'The Internet of Things needs a Ledger of Things'

—— Chandra Chandrasekaran , CEO and Managing Director of Tata Consultancy Services

The epicentre of trust is about to diffuse! The definitive narrative on the revolutionary possibilities of a decentralised trust system

—— Frank D'Souza , CEO of Cognizant

Identifies a profound new technology movement and connects it to the deepest of human needs: trust. Thoroughly researched and provocatively written. Every serious businessperson and policy maker needs to read Blockchain Revolution

—— Brian Fetherstonehaugh , Chairman and CEo of OgilvyOne Worldwide

This book has had an enormous impact on the evolution of blockchain in the world

—— Satya Nadella , CEO, Microsoft Corporation

Unveiling what are all too often mysterious and impenetrable layers of the law, Sarah Langford bares her soul to her readers, enabling us to share with her the harsh realities of defending people who have often been knocked down in the marathon race to survive their troubled lives. She's a terrific writer.

—— Lindy Woodhead - author of Shopping, Seduction & Mr Selfridge

A vivid picture of the courts at work... surprisingly uplifting. A thoughtful, elegant book. Langford weaves the chaos of lives at moments of crisis into a neat and satisfying whole... Each chapter unfolds a set of messy facts where the outcome is unclear, the justice of the case opaque. Is Langford's client guilty? Should he go to prison? Will, or should, the mother keep her children out of the reach of the father? The resolution is often as thrilling as a detective novel. And sometimes it is moving: the last chapter had this reviewer in tears. In its quiet way Langford's book is also a portrait of a particular version of Britain...I hope the lord chancellor reads it, and learns from it.

—— Thomas Grant, QC, author of Jeremy Hutchinson's Case Histories , The Times

Sarah Langford's brilliant account of our justice system's inner workings is a compelling, moving and powerful work. Its a gripping series of stories. But also a quietly powerful manifesto for change. Every citizen concerned about fairness in our society, and particularly the fate of the most vulnerable, should read it. And politicians must take to heart the lessons this dedicated lawyer teaches us.

—— Michael Gove

A MUST READ: ‘A barrister’s stories of her cases that read like the best fiction.’

—— Sunday Times

Sarah Langford's book of 11 criminal cases gives us an everyday feel of what goes on in court... Salutary and moving too.

—— The Times

This is an absolutely fascinating insider account of life at the bar by defence barrister Sarah Langford, told, with a novelist’s eye, through the stories of 11 ordinary people she’s defended. As Langford journeys through and challenges her own unconscious bias, she’ll make you take a long hard – and not entirely comfortable – look at your own.

—— Sam Baker , The Pool

I greatly enjoyed Sarah Langford’s In Your Defence (Doubleday), an insider’s account of life as a barrister. Justice and the law provide the lens: the subject is really human nature.

—— Ed Smith , New Stateman

The law is endlessly fascinating, in is history, rituals, manners, language and, above all, in the people whose lives revolve, temporarily or in the long term, around its practise. In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law by the barrister Sarah Langford tells the stories of some of those caught up in its complex workings. It is riveting … and quite alarming.

—— Susan Hill , Spectator

Books of the Year

—— The Times

Eye-opening…an illuminating warts-and-all portrait of the law in action…Langford cares passionately about her clients and shows us the rarely reported human face of the law

—— Mail On Sunday
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