Miller, Judith; Engelberg, Stephen; and Broad, William. Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War. New York: Simon & Schuster (Touchstone Edition), 2002. 407 pages.

This scare book is by New York Times reporters. Miller is a senior reporter specializing in anti-Arab stories, Engelberg covered intelligence for the NYT during Iran-contra and deftly sidestepped all the big stories, and Broad doesn't do spin because he's a science reporter. Mix and shake, and you get a book that is one-third technically interesting and two-thirds hysteria. In fact, just as this book was hitting the bestseller lists, Miller was pumping out anxious reports on Iraq's (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction, based on rumors from Iraqi exiles and defectors.

The best part of this book is the description of Soviet biowarfare research, which was revealed gradually during the 1990s as Cold War secrecy crumbled further. There are also fascinating portraits of two cults, one in the U.S. and another in Japan, that used germ attacks. The worst part of this book is the assumption that U.S. biowarriors all have white hats, and everyone else in the world wears black hats. For example, a book of this scope should have covered the U.S. biowarfare program during the Korean War, which has been so well documented by Canadians Stephen Endicott and Edward Hagerman. But alas, you lose spin control if you practice objectivity, and New York Times reporters never lose control.
ISBN 0-684-87159-9

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