Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Armstrong, Melanie, 1977- author.

Title Germ wars : the politics of microbes and America's landscape of fear / Melanie Armstrong
Published Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2017]
©2017

Copies

Description 1 online resource
Series Critical environments. Nature, science, and politics
Critical environments. Nature, science, and politics
Contents Introduction : political ecologies of bioterror -- "Smallpox is dead" : the public health campaign to (almost) eradicate a species -- Microbes for war and peace : on the military origins of containment -- The wild microbiological west : fighting ticks and weighing risks -- Agents of care : bioterrorism preparedness at the CDC -- Simulation science : securing the future -- Bioterror borderlands : of nature and nation -- Conclusion: "freaked out yet?"
Summary "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 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"--Provided by publisher
Analysis activism
activist
america
american government
american history
american
biological science
biological weapon
biologist
biology
bioterrorism
biowarfare
contemporary
dangerous
disease
germ warfare
government spending
government
microbes
modern world
policymaker
politics
revolution
scientific
united states government
united states history
us government
us history
warfare
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record and CIP data provided by publisher
Subject Bioterrorism -- United States -- Prevention
Bioterrorism -- United States -- Psychological aspects
Biopolitics.
BUSINESS & ECONOMICS -- Infrastructure.
SOCIAL SCIENCE -- General.
SCIENCE -- Environmental Science.
Biopolitics
Bioterrorism -- Prevention
United States
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2016039496
ISBN 9780520966147
0520966147