Chemical and Biological Warfare: The Cruelest Weapons (Issues in Focus)

Pringle, Laurence P.

ISBN 10: 0894902806 ISBN 13: 9780894902802

Publisher: Enslow Pub Inc, 1993

Synopsis

Recounts the history of chemical and biological warfare, describes its role in recent Middle East conflicts, and discusses efforts at control

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 7 Up-- Two well-researched and informative reference tools on timely, high-interest topics. Billings examines the history and uses of pesticides, including a discussion of the various types, their advantages and disadvantages, and their regulation in the United States. She explains why they remain a necessity in spite of the risk to the environment and humanity and how these risks can be lessened by wise usage. There is a great deal of information in this book, but the writing is not as engaging as Pringle's. Part of the impediment to readability is the extensive (and necessary) use of abbreviations for the names of pesticides as well as the regulatory agencies controlling them. A helpful list of abbreviations is appended. Chemical and Biological Warfare presents the idea that these are "humankind's cruelest weapons" and that, in the 1990s, there is new hope that the world's nations will control their proliferation. Pringle presents the different types of weapons, the history of their use in wartime, the stockpiling of such armaments, and the related problems of controlling and dismantling them. He includes up-to-date information on the threat of both poisonous gases and germ warfare. Elaine Landau's Chemical and Biological Warfare (Lodestar, 1991) covers similar material, but Pringle includes more science in his discussions and his book's well-chosen photographs are not only informative but also effective in visually expressing the effects of such devastation. --Carolyn Angus, The Claremont Graduate School, CA
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews:

In a clear and concise overview of major issues of their chemical and biological arms control, Pringle provides background on the dangers present, as well as of the social and political factors that have spread them even more widely than nuclear weapons. Though he cites chemical warfare in ancient Greece, and British smallpox infections of Native Americans, he concentrates on the 20th century: gas attacks by both sides in WW I, Italian attacks on Ethiopians, ``Agent Orange'' in Vietnam, Iraqi attacks on Kurds. He speculates that the Germans withheld using nerve gases in WW II because of Hitler's experience of being gassed in the previous war, or because of their fear of retaliation. But ``bad guys'' were not the only experimenters: Americans tried to develop diseases as weapons; later, the CIA experimented on whole sections of the country. One chapter exposes in detail the CIA's attempt to accuse the Vietnamese of using poison gas in the ``Yellow Rain'' incident. (It turned out to be bee feces.) Pringle doesn't provide much direct documentation but does list his authoritative sources in a bibliography. An excellent summary--so evenhanded that both sides in a debate could find it useful. Index. (Nonfiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Enslow Pub Inc
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0894902806
• ISBN 13: 9780894902802
• Binding: Library Binding
• Number of pages: 104