A vast industry has grown up around humanitarian aid: a cavalcade of organizations--some 37,000--compete for a share of the $160 billion annual prize. Polman argues that it is time to impose ethical boundaries, to question whether doing something is always better than doing nothing, and to hold humanitarians responsible for the consequences of their deeds.

In her controversial, no-holds-barred exposé Linda Polman shows how a vast industry has grown up around humanitarian aid. The Crisis Caravan takes us to war zones around the globe, showing how aid operations and the humanitarian world have become a feature of military strategy. Impassioned, gripping, and even darkly absurd, journalist Linda Polman gives some powerful examples of unconscionable assistance...a world where aid workers have become enablers of the atrocities they seek to relieve (The Boston Globe).