Synopses & Reviews
From anthrax to botulism, from smallpox to Ebola, the threat of biological destruction is rapidly overtaking our collective fear of atomic weaponry. This riveting narrative traces America's own covert biological weapons program from its origins in World War II to its abrupt cancellation in 1969. In light of America's increasing surveillance and condemnation of foreign biological weapons programs, this exposé of America's own dangerous Cold War secret is both fascinating and shocking. The project, at its peak, employed 5,000 people and tested pathogens on 2,000 live human volunteers; conducted open-air tests on American soil; sprayed our cities with bacterial aerosols; and stockpiled millions of bacterial bombs for instant deployment. Yet, surprisingly, almost nothing has been published about this project until now. This is the first book to expose the true story of America's secret program to create biological weapons of mass destruction.
Ed Regis, Ph.D., is a former philosophy professor and has written for Wired, Discover, and Science Digest. He is the author of four books, including Who Got Einstein's Office?, Great Mambo Chicken, and The Transhuman Condition. He lives in Maryland.
The Biology of Doom is the first book to expose the true story of America's secret program to create biological weapons of mass destruction. From anthrax to botulism, from smallpox to Ebola, the threat of biological destruction is rapidly overtaking our collective fear of atomic weaponry. Ed Regis's critically acclaimed narrative traces America's increasing surveillance and condemnation of foreign biological weapons programs, this exposé of our own dangerous Cold War secret is both fascinating and shocking. The project, at its peak, employed 5,000 people and tested pathogens on 2,000 live human volunteers, conducted open-air tests on American soil, sprayed our cities with bacterial aerosols, and stockpiled millions of bacterial bombs for instant deployment.
"Biology of Doom details everything from a secret test of benign agents inside the Pentagon to a fatal LSD experiment that led a scientist to commit suicide. Regis also uncovers interesting tidbits: He found that the Canadian program was bankrolled by Samuel Bronfman, head of Seagram Co., and some other executives. All in all, this volume offers a workmanlike account of how the world started down what could be a fateful biological path."Stan Crock, BusinessWeek
"A handy one-volume introduction to what will surely be the 'it' weapon of the twenty-first century . . . [Regis] suggests that if we all wind up dying of anthrax or Ebola, we have no one but our own sneaky, germ-growing government to blame."New York magazine
"In a chilling tour de force of historical research Regis portrays hubris, evil, and paranoia among scientists and military leaders of the '40s and '50s, and offers stark evidence of the terrifyingly efficient utility of biological weapons."Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague
"The Biology of Doom is a scary journey through the murk of the original American biological weapons program. Bioweapons are surely the weapons of the twenty-first century; even now they are affecting the global pivots of power. Ed Regis has dug around in the roots of bioweaponry and unearthed a fascinating tale."Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone
"Regis, a former professor of philosophy, interested himself in what the U.S. and other countries did during and after World War II to develop methods of biological warfare. With the aid of the Freedom of Information Act, he obtained more than 2,000 pages of formerly secret U.S. government documents on the subject. They form the foundation of this account, which traces the U.S. biological weapons program from its inception in 1942 to its termination in 1969 on the grounds that "biological weapons have massive, unpredictable, and potentially uncontrollable consequences."Scientific American
"Regis presents a thorough, frightening look at America's biological warfare program, from its inception during the late 1930s through the 1980s. He covers all the bases in looking at the strategic and scientific developments of biological warfare both in the U.S. and among its principal adversaries, including Japan, Germany and Russia . . . Along his way to reporting this important and under-discussed aspect of the Cold War, Regis offers a great deal of startling evidence on the use of biological agents during the Korean conflictand, also disturbing, that America used data from Japanese biological warfare tests done on Manchurian criminals."Publishers Weekly
Review
"A scary journey through the murk of the original American biological weapons program." (Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone)
Review
"...suggests that if we all wind up dying of anthrax or Ebola, we have ...our own ...government to blame." (New York magazine)
Review
"...portrays hubris, evil, and paranoia among scientists and military leaders ... and offers stark evidence of the .. efficient utility of biological weapons." (Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague)
Review
"Ed Regis...suggests that if we all wind up dying of anthrax or Ebola, we have no one but our own sneaky, germ-growing government to blame."--
New York Magazine
"In a chilling tour de force of historical research Regis portrays hubris, evil, and paranoia among scientists and military leaders of the '40s and '50s, and offers stark evidence of the terrifyingly efficient utility of biological weapons."
--Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague
Synopsis
From anthrax to botulism, from smallpox to Ebola, the threat of biological destruction is rapidly overtaking our collective fear of atomic weaponry. This riveting narrative traces America's own covert biological weapons program from its origins in World War II to its abrupt cancellation in 1969. In light of America's increasing surveillance and condemnation of foreign biological weapons programs, this exposé of America's own dangerous Cold War secret is both fascinating and shocking. The project, at its peak, employed 5,000 people and tested pathogens on 2,000 live human volunteers; conducted open-air tests on American soil; sprayed our cities with bacterial aerosols; and stockpiled millions of bacterial bombs for instant deployment. Yet, surprisingly, almost nothing has been published about this project until now. This is the first book to expose the true story of America's secret program to create biological weapons of mass destruction.
About the Author
Ed Regis, Ph.D., is a former philosophy professor and has written for
Wired,
Discover, and
Science Digest. He is the author of four books, including
Who Got Einstein's Office?,
Great Mambo Chicken, and
The Transhuman Condition.