Human Cargo

A portrait of the lives of today's refugees cites an alarming percentage of the world's population that has been forced to abandon home and family in order to survive, sharing the personal stories of people struggling to make lives for themselves in such areas as Cairo, Lebanon, and Australia. By the author of Gellhorn. An arresting portrait of the lives of today's refugees and a searching look into their future The word refugee is more often used to invoke a problem than it is to describe a population of millions of people forced to abandon their homes, possessions, and families in order to find a place where they may, quite literally, be allowed to live. In spite of the fact that refugees surround us-the latest UN estimates suggest that 20 million of the world's 6.3 billion people are refugees-few can grasp the scale of their presence or the implications of their growing numbers. Caroline Moorehead has traveled for nearly two years and across four continents to bring us their unforgettable stories.

Prize history

• National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction

  2005 · awarded 2006

  Finalist