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University of California Press

Germ Wars

The Politics of Microbes and America's Landscape of Fear

by Melanie Armstrong (Author)
Price: $34.95 / £30.00
Publication Date: Jan 2017
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: World
Pages: 304
ISBN: 9780520966147
Trim Size: 6 x 9
Illustrations: 19 b/w images
Series:

About the Book

The United States government has spent billions of dollars to prepare the nation for bioterrorism despite the extremely rare occurrence of biological attacks in modern American history. Germ Wars 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. In the last century, revolutions in biological science have made visible a vast microscopic world, and in this same era we have watched the rise of a global war on terror.
 
Germ Wars demonstrates that these movements did not occur separately but are instead deeply entwined—new scientific knowledge of microbes makes possible new mechanisms of war. Whether to eliminate disease or create weapons, the work to harness and control germs and the history of these endeavors provide an important opportunity for investigating how biological natures shape modern life. Germ Wars aims to convince students and scholars as well as policymakers and activists that the ways in which bioterrorism has been produced have consequences for how people live in this world of unspecifiable risks.

About the Author

Melanie Armstrong is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies and the Public Lands Coordinator at Western State Colorado University.

Table 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

Reviews

"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."
The Quarterly Review of Biology
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