Human Cargo is a remarkable oral testament.Caroline Moorehead has visited war zones, camps and prisons from Guinea and Afghanistan to Texas and Italy. She has interviewed emigration officials and members of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Geneva while investigating the fates of the 17 million people currently displaced from their homes.

How can society cope with this diaspora of the twenty-first century? Is there a difference between 'good' asylum seekers and 'bad' economic migrants? What happens to those whose applications are turned down? The difficult questions are asked, the horrible issues faced. But, above all, Human Cargo celebrates the courage and will to survive shown by ordinary human beings.