Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons since 1945

Awards:   Nominated for Don K. Price Award 2006 Nominated for Rachel Carson Prize & Ludwik Fleck Prize 2007
Author:   Mark Wheelis ,  Lajos Rózsa ,  Malcolm Dando ,  Malcolm Dando
Publisher:   Harvard University Press
ISBN:  

9780674016996


Pages:   496
Publication Date:   30 January 2006
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
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Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons since 1945


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Awards

  • Nominated for Don K. Price Award 2006
  • Nominated for Rachel Carson Prize & Ludwik Fleck Prize 2007

Overview

The threat of biological weapons has never attracted as much public attention as in the past five years. Current concerns largely relate to the threat of weapons acquisition and use by rogue states or by terrorists. But the threat has deeper roots-it has been evident for fifty years that biological agents could be used to cause mass casualties and large-scale economic damage. Yet there has been little historical analysis of such weapons over the past half-century. Deadly Cultures sets out to fill this gap by analyzing the historical developments since 1945 and addressing three central issues: Why have states continued or begun programs for acquiring biological weapons? Why have states terminated biological weapons programs? How have states demonstrated that they have truly terminated their biological weapons programs? We now live in a world in which the basic knowledge needed to develop biological weapons is more widely available than ever before. Deadly Cultures provides the lessons from history that we urgently need in order to strengthen the long-standing prohibition of biological weapons.

Full Product Details

Author:   Mark Wheelis ,  Lajos Rózsa ,  Malcolm Dando ,  Malcolm Dando
Publisher:   Harvard University Press
Imprint:   Harvard University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 3.20cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.844kg
ISBN:  

9780674016996


ISBN 10:   0674016998
Pages:   496
Publication Date:   30 January 2006
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock   Availability explained
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.

Table of Contents

Preface Abbreviations 1. Historical Context and Overview Mark Wheelis, Lajos Rozsa, and Malcolm Dando 2. The US Biological Weapons Program John Ellis van Courtland Moon 3. The UK Biological Weapons Program Brian Balmer 4. The Canadian Biological Weapons Program and the Tripartite Alliance Donald Avery 5. The French Biological Weapons Program Olivier Lepick 6. The Soviet Biological Weapons Program John Hart 7. Biological Weapons in Non-Soviet Warsaw Pact Countries Lajos Rozsa and Kathryn Nixdorff 8. The Iraqi Biological Weapons Program Graham Pearson 9. The South African Biological Weapons Program ChandrE Gould and Alastair Hay 10. Anticrop Biological Weapons Programs Simon Whitby 11. Antianimal Biological Weapons Programs Piers Millet 12. Midspectrum Incapacitant Programs Malcolm Dando and Martin Furmanski 13. Allegations of Biological Weapons Use Martin Furmanski and Mark Wheelis 14. Terrorist Use of Biological Weapons Mark Wheelis and Masaaki Sugishima 15. The Politics of Biological Disarmament Marie Chevrier 16. Legal Constraints on Biological Weapons Nicholas Sims 17. Analysis and Implications Malcolm Dando, Graham Pearson, Lajos Rozsa, Julian Perry Robinson, and Mark Wheelis Appendix. The Biological Weapons Convention Notes Contributors Index

Reviews

Deadly Cultures is written eloquently and has been edited superbly.The chapters have a uniform style and organization; scientific and political terminology is used in a consistent and correct manner throughout; and abbreviations are used only where absolutely necessary. In contrast to most other books on bioweapons, the editors have almost always used up-to-date taxonomy of biological agents, as well as the differentiation of agents and the diseases they cause. The authors also included the original names of all institutes involved in bioweapons R&D. This is not a trivial point as French, Iraqi or Russian institute designations have been translated differently in the past, and were also frequently changed during decades of reorganization, confusing both analysts and interested laymen...Deadly Cultures is informative, meticulously researched, important in its message, and a fabulous read for both scholars and interested scientists. -- Jens H. Kuhn Nature 20060126 [This book] is a survey as accessible in its prose style and avoidance of unnecessary jargon as it is fair-minded in its treatment of claims and counter-claims by those involved or allegedly involved in BW work. This is the book, which will doubtless remain unrivalled, for anyone wishing to understand the scientific basis of efforts to harness microorganisms as weapons of war and terror, the military arguments for and against their use, and the political context of those developments and arguments. Alongside individual chapters devoted to the US, UK, French, Canadian, Soviet, Iraqi, and South African BW programmes, as well as those in non-Soviet Warsaw Pact countries, the book addresses issues such as anti-crop weapons, anti-animal weapons and the significance of BW agents in the hands of terrorists...Meticulously documented with well over 1000 references, the book is as magnificent in its compilation as its subject matter is horrendous in its malevolent purpose. -- Bernard Dixon Biologist


[This book] is a survey as accessible in its prose style and avoidance of unnecessary jargon as it is fair-minded in its treatment of claims and counter-claims by those involved or allegedly involved in BW work. This is the book, which will doubtless remain unrivalled, for anyone wishing to understand the scientific basis of efforts to harness microorganisms as weapons of war and terror, the military arguments for and against their use, and the political context of those developments and arguments. Alongside individual chapters devoted to the US, UK, French, Canadian, Soviet, Iraqi, and South African BW programmes, as well as those in non-Soviet Warsaw Pact countries, the book addresses issues such as anti-crop weapons, anti-animal weapons and the significance of BW agents in the hands of terrorists...Meticulously documented with well over 1000 references, the book is as magnificent in its compilation as its subject matter is horrendous in its malevolent purpose. -- Bernard Dixon Biologist


Author Information

Mark Wheelis is Senior Lecturer in the Section of Microbiology at the University of California, Davis. Lajos Rozsa is senior researcher, Animal Ecology Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary. Malcolm Dando is Professor of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, England.

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