Henry Dunant: Founder of the Red Cross, Creator of Humanitarian Law

Henry Dunant: Founder of the Red Cross, Creator of Humanitarian Law tells the extraordinary true story of the man who changed the moral laws of war-and lost everything in the process.

Born into wealth in Geneva, Henry Dunant was a young businessman chasing success when a single day on a battlefield in northern Italy altered the course of global history. What he witnessed at Solferino-tens of thousands of wounded soldiers abandoned without aid-shattered him. From that horror came a radical idea: that even in war, human life must be protected by law.

That idea became the Red Cross. It became the Geneva Conventions. And it became the foundation of modern humanitarianism.

Yet while Dunant's vision spread across nations, his own life collapsed. Branded a financial failure, pushed out of the movement he created, and forced into decades of exile and poverty, Dunant paid a devastating personal price for his moral greatness. Forgotten by the world he transformed, he would be rediscovered only at the end of his life-just in time to receive the very first Nobel Peace Prize.

Written with literary power and philosophical depth, this biography is not only the story of a man, but of the birth of compassion as a global institution. It explores the tension between idealism and power, vision and survival, and asks a haunting question that still defines our world today:

What is the true cost of doing the right thing?

Perfect for readers of narrative history, moral biography, and humanitarian studies, this is an unforgettable portrait of the man who taught civilization how to show mercy in war.