Humanitarian Shame and Redemption: Norwegian Citizens Helping Refugees in Greece (Berghahn 2023) traces the birth and trajectory of a Norwegian volunteer organisation established by a mother of five with no prior experience in humanitarian work. Drawing on eighteen months of participant observation in Greece and Norway, Mogstad examines the organisation’s shifting and contested efforts to ‘fill humanitarian gaps’ in Greece while witnessing and shaming the Norwegian public and politicians into action. Moving beyond existing critiques of humanitarian sentiments like pity and compassion, the book focuses specifically on the work of shame and other ‘negative’ emotions. While showing that shame can be experienced as morally appropriate and productive, Mogstad argues that its political force is hampered by its redemptive aspirations and reproduction of a whitewashed version of Norwegian history. Besides contributing to the field of humanitarianism and border studies, the book contributes to critical interrogations of Nordic colonialism and exceptionalism.