Biological Weapons : From The Invention Of State-sponsored Programs To Contemporary Bioterrorism - 05 edition

"This sane and sensible book ends by arguing for a more balanced approach."

--Malcolm Dando, Nature

"The book ranks high as a historical introduction to the subject and a handbook on contemporary remedies."

--Publishers Weekly

"This is a powerful book that tells the disturbing story of biological weapons, from early experimentation around World War I, through the horrific human experimentation of World War II into the massive programs of the Cold War. But this is history written to inform our terribly unsettling present: bioterrorism is altering our everyday sense of security. Jeanne Guillemin has done important work here--work that needs to be understood by all of us as we face a fearful form of science that risks making the 'reasonable' balance of terror and deterrence look like the good old days."

--Peter Galison, Mallinckrodt Professor of the History of Science and of Physics, Harvard University

"Guillemin, one of America's most trusted authorities on biological weapons, recounts, in chilling detail, the evolution of the threat-from the state programs of the early twentieth century, to Iraq's program, to the horrifying prospects of twenty-first century bioterrorism. Guilleman warns us that a variety of constraints-legal, technical, political, and moral-together with sheer good luck, have kept us safe until now; but that our our fears-and our zeal to protect ourselves, could ultimately be more damaging than the weapons themselves. Biological Weapons is a balanced and wise account that will help us make better decisions about an exceedingly difficult dilemma-balancing the need to protect ourselves while not discouraging important biomedical advances."

--Jessica Stern, author of Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill

"This is a fascinating, lucidly written and important book for anyone concerned about the vulnerability of contemporary society to the misuse of science in support of terrorism. In a thoughtful historical analysis of the experiences of France, Britain, Japan, and the United States, the seductiveness of using science for development of new and more effective weapons is set in contrast to the seductiveness of using science to develop more sophisticated technical means for defense. The critical message from the history of biological and chemical weapons is that their restriction will ultimately depend less on technical scientific fixes, than on the fundamental values of a democratic society, namely openness, law and consensus. This book initiates a dialog with the public that urgently needs to take place."

--Barry R. Bloom, dean, Harvard School of Public Health

"A finely drawn and accurate overview, free of the prejudice and scare-mongering that usually surround the subjectBiological Weapons: From the Invention of State-Sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism. This book shows us the political, personal, and military factors that caused national germ-weapons programs to emerge in the 1920s and later to flourish and fade with the Cold War, leaving our future contaminated with the possibility of bioterrorism. Here is a masterly tool for dispelling ignorance and for probing policy."

--Julian Robinson, University of Sussex

"An expert in presenting clear and concise analyses of issues related to biological weapons, Jeanne Guillemin tells the fascinating and frightening story of biological weapons development and use from World War Two to the present. No other book presents this saga as precisely yet readably. The book should be required reading for biologists, physicians, policy makers, and for anyone who seeks to understand current biological weapons dangers and dilemmas."

--Victor W. Sidel, MD, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

"Biological weapons have a justly deserved reputation as barbaric weapons that should never be used. Guillemin is one of our leading authorities on the history of these terrible weapons, and what a history it is: secret research programs undertaken without public knowledge or debate; unethical experiments on prisoners-of-war, conscientious objectors, and unwitting users of subways and airports; and meticulously calculated plans to kill millions. Guillemin has given us, for the first time, a book that pulls together everything we know about biological warfare research in the U.S., the Soviet Union, Europe and Canada. Writing straightforwardly, without cheap sensationalism or bias, she gives a lucid account of the history of these programs and of the dangers now confront us if they fall into the hands of terrorists."

--Hugh Gusterson, author of "People of the Bomb" and Associate Professor of Anthropology and Science Studies, MIT

"Guillemin's account of biological weapons is lucid and concise, providing an excellent guide through the evidence on the past and issues for the future."

--Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs

"Jeanne Guillemin presents a cogent history of biological warfare and its horrific implications"

--Karl Helicher, ForeWord

Columbia University Press Web Site, Novewmber, 2005

Preface
Introduction

1. Biological Agents and Disease Transmission
2. The United Kingdom and Biological Warfare: The Remorseless Advance of Military Science
3. The United States in World War II: Industrial Scale and Secrecy
4. Secret Sharing and the Japanese Biological Weapons Program (1934-1945)
5. Aiming for Nuclear Scale: The Cold War and the US Biological Warfare Program
6. The Nixon Decision
7. The Soviet Biological Weapons Program
8. Bioterrorism and the Threat of Proliferation
9. National Security and the Biological Weapons Threat
10. Biological Weapons: Restraints Against Proliferation