IP: book review 'Germs': The Troubling Story of Biological Weapons

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

'Germs': The Troubling Story of Biological Weapons
By GIDEON ROSE


Two days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, a 
friend called me up in panic. His cousin had supposedly heard from a 
high-ranking F.B.I. source that another, even more catastrophic attack on 
New York was imminent. ''Nuclear?'' I asked. ''Or biological,'' he said 
knowingly. The only way I could get him off the phone was to promise to 
check the rumor out, which I sheepishly proceeded to do. Two responses from 
people with high classifications were basically the same: ''I haven't heard 
anything, and I wouldn't do anything silly -- but after Tuesday, who knows?''
''Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War,'' by three veteran 
reporters for The New York Times -- Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and 
William Broad -- offers reasons the tip could not be laughed off. It tells 
the story of biological weapons and the fight against them, using biography 
and historical narrative to make the issues clear and accessible. The tone 
is somewhat alarmist, but because of the care with which the authors have 
assembled their case, not to mention our new sense of what is possible, 
even skeptical readers may have trouble sleeping easily after they finish it.
Biological weapons are easier to make

<snip>

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/14/books/review/14ROSELT.html


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