IR VERDICT:
This detailed account of a little-known U.S.-initiated and -managed food and clothing relief committee in World War I’s Belgium has all the makings of a dramatic feature film: A rising political star (Herbert Hoover). Underground journalists who every week undermine the machinations of the German occupiers (La Libre Belgique). Romance among natives and U.S. delegates to the CRB (Committee for Relief in Belgium). And lots of human conflict – not only with the occupiers, but also within the charitable system, between Allies, and, sadly, terminating with executions of humanitarians like English nurse Edith Cavell. Well-documented and well-written, this will appeal to historians and non-fiction lovers alike.