Since the American Red Cross was founded 125 years ago, the Red Cross on a white background has become a symbol of help and hope. This book, by journalist and former Red Cross employee Michele Turk, tells the story of the modern-day Red Cross through the voices of twenty-nine current and former Red Cross paid and volunteer staff from all parts of the country, and a variety of backgrounds. This is the first narrative history of the Red Cross since the 1950s, and presents a compelling view of the organization and the heroic people who work for it. Blood, Sweat and Tears features more than 70 photographs and illustrations, including vintage Red Cross posters.

Stories range from that of a World War II veteran who credits the Red Cross packages with keeping him alive when he was a POW in Germany to Americans who became heroes simply because they signed up for a Red Cross course and were later able to save a life, to volunteers who spent an intense year in Vietnam cheering up soldiers. We hear from the staffer who pulled people from an automobile before the medics arrive; the mom who saved a neighbor’s child when he was drowning, the nurse who took off from her job to go half-way around the world to distribute food and supplies to the victims of the Asian tsunami in 2004 and the Red Cross worker whose home was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Blood, Sweat and Tears features individuals from more than 15 states—people who make the organization the largest, most ubiquitous charitable organization in the world.

About the author: Michele Turk is a journalist and editor whose work has appeared in BusinessWeek, USA Weekend, Parents magazine and The Washington Post. Her involvement with the Red Cross began when she worked as a disaster specialist for the American Red Cross in Greater New York, and as a writer for a Web site at national headquarters (www.disasterrelief.com). A graduate of Boston College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Turk lives in Fairfield County, Connecticut, with her husband, Russ and their two children.

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