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“Germ Wars is strong and evocative. Melanie Armstrong writes about complex dynamics in a compelling and engaging way—not always an easy feat, particularly in light of some of the book's more abstract ideas. Germ Wars is creative and well researched, and it makes a much-needed contribution to American Studies. Highly innovative and rigorous, this book is also quite well developed and a pleasure to read.”—Traci Voyles, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies, Loyola Marymount University
“Germ Wars is a wonderfully readable, engaging book that deftly balances critical insight with strong narrative flow. I know of no other sustained treatment of the biological threat that demonstrates this level of theoretical inquiry and covers such a comprehensive historical terrain.”—Melinda E. Cooper, Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Sydney, and author of Life as Surplus: Biotechnology and Capitalism in the Neoliberal Era and coauthor of Clinical Labor: Tissue Donors and Research Subjects in the Global Bioeconomy
List of contents
Introduction: Political Ecologies of Bioterror
1. “Smallpox Is Dead”: The Public Health Campaign to (Almost) Eradicate a Species
2. Microbes for War and Peace: On the Military Origins of Containment
3. The Wild Microbiological West: Fighting Ticks and Weighing Risks
4. Agents of Care: Bioterrorism Preparedness at the CDC
5. Simulation Science: Securing the Future
6. Bioterror Borderlands: Of Nature and Nation
Conclusion: “Freaked Out Yet?”
Acknowledgments
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the author
Melanie Armstrong is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and the Public Lands Coordinator at Western State Colorado University.
Summary
US government has spent billions of dollars to prepare the nation for bioterrorism despite the extremely rare occurrence of biological attacks in American history. This book argues that bioterrorism has emerged as a prominent fear in the modern age, arising with the production of new forms of microbial nature and the changing practices of warfare.
Additional text
"The book is most suited for those who would describe their concern as that of the critical study of nature or of institutions. They may find it useful for their own work and graduate seminars, as the volume extends critiques of authority to understudied topics of biosecurity, adds an arrow to the quiver of assaults against neoliberalism, and engenders many questions for further study."
