Bread from Stones: The Middle East & The Making of Modern Humanitarianism, by Keith David Watenpaugh (UC Press, 2015). Watenpaugh, an associate professor in religious studies, analyzes genocide and mass violence, human trafficking and the forced displacement of millions in the Eastern Mediterranean as the background for this exploration of humanitarianism’s role in the history of human rights.

An American historian and theorist of human rights and humanitarianism, Watenpaugh is an expert on genocide, and the role of the refugee and the forcibly displaced human in world history. He is a leader of international efforts to defend the human rights of displaced and refugee university students and scholars, primarily those affected by the wars and civil conflicts in Syria, Central Africa, South Asia and Eastern Europe.

Watenpaugh is the founding director of the UC Davis Human Rights Studies Program, the first academic unit of its kind in the University of California system. Under his leadership, it has grown to one of the largest programs in the nation encompassing a comprehensive interdisciplinary curriculum of over 20 undergraduate and graduate courses and a vital internship and global learning component. In 2022, 80 UC Davis students majoring in History, English, Political Science, International Relations, and STEM and pre-Med fields graduated with Human Rights Minors. He is directing efforts to create the first Human Rights Studies BA in California.

View the book at the University of California Press