title: Spores, Plagues and History: The Story of Anthrax
author:  Chris Holmes 
description: As the author points out in the preface of this entertaining text, histories are usually about big things, about wars and momentous events. But this book is about a microbe: anthrax. Dr. Holmes has presented to us an educational and entertaining account of the earliest knowldege of this microbe and how it came to be used as a weapon. With this book, Dr. Holmes traces the known history of anthrax from Moses to Saddam Husseim. He shows us how it has caused problems for millenia and tracks its beginnings as a weapon. He caps the past with frightening accounts of the very recent uses of anthrax, even leaving us with several unknowns about where we will go next. . . In an effective, unique style, Dr. Holmes blends rigourous historical facts with speculative fiction -- but he always makes it plain when he diverges to a fictional account. . .Dr. Holmes uses this technique effectively more than once in this book -- including accounts of recent trials into weaponization of anthrax. Two very memorable chapters from Spores are the chapters about the lives and work of Drs. Robert Koch and Louis Pasteur, including a brief discussion of the animosity that existed between the two. Reading about how these two giants advanced the fields of bacteriology, epidemiology, and medicine in general is both enlightening and entertaining. The final sections of the book discuss at length the last few generations of anthrax science, including discussions of the infamous Japanese experiments in Manchuria during WW II, and the later obtaining of those secrets by America, Russia, and China. The discussions on what followed, with experimentation and the secrecy surrounding this in each of these countries, is frankly terrifying. Overall, Spores, Plagues and History is a highly entertaining and educational read, and one that every person connected with terrorism and medicine can benefit from reading. --Journal of Emergency Medicine, V.30, Issue 1, January, 2006, p. 127<br /><br />Spores, Plagues and History contains a mix of topics: the medical identification and treatment of anthrax, the history of the recent anthrax bioterror attack in the United States, the history of presumed anthrax use as a weapon of terror, and the influence of anthrax through history. These subjects are coupled with a discussion of past biowarfare programs, primarily of Japan, the United states, and Russia. The book is an enjoyable and overall informative read. . . Dr. Holmes does a service by bringing this book out at this time. His many examples of the use of terror, from the ninth century BC to th present, help to focus a clear description of the intended hazard to life of such biologic weapons. --Bull. Hist. Med., 2005, 79:382-3.<br /><br />Medical epidemiologist Chris Holmes, M.D. presents Spores, Plagues and History: The Story of Anthrax, a straightforward accounting of this devastating disease and its effects on humanity throughout history. From 'woolsorter's disease' during the Industrial Revolution, to modern-day biological weapons, and so much more, Holmes' extensively researched sources aptly trace a path in clear, no-nonsense terms that students of both World History and Medical History will greatly appreciate. A work of impecable scholarship, Spores Plagues And History is very strongly recommended for academic library reference collections. --Midwest Book Review, January 17, 2004.
zlib_text: Tab le of Contents
   
  Title Page
  Copyright Page
  Dedication
  Acknowledgements
  PREFACE
  Introduction
   
  Chapter 1 - HERCULES AND THE HYDRA: THE INVENTION OF
  BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS
  Chapter 2 - ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE ARROWS OF DOOM
  Chapter 3 - POISON WATERS, DEADLY VAPORS
  Chapter 4 - A CASKET OF PLAGUE IN THE TEMPLE OF BABYLON
  Chapter 5 - SWEET SABOTAGE
  Chapter 6 - ANIMAL ALLIES AND SCORPION BOMBS
  Chapter 7 - INFERNAL FIRE
   
  AFTERWORD: THE MANY-HEADED HYDRA
  NOTES
  BIBLIOGRAPHY
  LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
  INDEX
  
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