Germ Wars - The Politics of Microbes and America`s Landscape of Fear

1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-0-520-29276-5
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, Band 2, 304 Seiten, Cloth Over Boards, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 666 g

Reihe: Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics

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.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Armstrong, Melanie

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Nationale und Internationale Sicherheits- und Verteidigungspolitik
• Rechtswissenschaften Öffentliches Recht Verwaltungsrecht Verwaltungspraxis Feuerwehr, Rettungsdienst, Katastrophen- und Zivilschutz
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Regierungspolitik Innen-, Bildungs- und Bevölkerungspolitik
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Gewalt Terrorismus, Religiöser Fundamentalismus
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Militärwesen Zivil- und Katastrophenschutz

Inhaltsverzeichnis

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

Über Autor(innen)

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