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War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (Studies in Environment and History)
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From Publishers Weekly
The 20th century was framed by "a treaty... to limit poison gas in warfare" at its beginning, and one "to eliminate chemical warfare" at its end. Meanwhile, in WWI and WWII, chemical weapons killed approximately 440,000 people (not including those who perished in Nazi gas chambers). In War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring, Edmund Russell, associate professor of technology, culture and communication at the University of Virginia, traces military and agricultural use of poison gases, incendiaries, smokes, insecticides and pesticides, while exploring the toll on human life, culture and the environment. This topical, judicious book will appeal to environmentalists, academics and sophisticated lay readers.Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Review
"...this fine study is a welcome addition to American environmental, military, and scientific historical scholarship and deserves a wide readership." American Historical Review"Well written and readable, and the author's theories are well supported." Military Review"War and Nature does an excellent job of weaving together research on chemical use against human and insect enemies of the United States from World War I to the present. The author did a thorough job in doing research for his doctoral dissertation, and has presented it in a very readable fashion. The footnotes and index to this work are quite thorough and useful...In all this is an interesting presentation of material that documents one aspect of the military industrial complex that has become an integral part of our lives. Highly recommended for students of history, business, and the environment." E-Streams"Edmund Russell's fascinating and provocative study explores several seemingly disparate historical realities - U.S. military strategy and propaganda during World Wars I and II, the rhetoric of the Cold War, and post-1945 insecticide research and advertising - to show the subtle connections among them. This brilliany and original book brings together important strands of twentieth-century American history in fresh and disturbing ways." Paul Boyer, Washburn Observatory"Russell admirably achieves his purpose, reinforcing his case with careful scholarship." Military History"This topical, judicious book will appeal to environmentalists, academics, and sophisticated lay readers." Publisher's Weekly"An interesting and highly unusual comparison of the parallel--but sometimes intersecting--chemical wars waged against humans and bugs...For students of both war and ecology, this is a remarkable and fascinating study that draws heavily on primary sources; it is particularly timely as awareness grows of what war does to the environment, as well as to people." Eliot A. Cohen, Foreign Affairs"[A] careful, factual, well-documented examination of the scientific and rhetorical intersection of chemical warfare and pest control. The possibility of this coverage would never have occurred to me, or I suspect to most people, but Russell shows, in convincing detail, how it exists and operates." Washington Post Book World"Edmund Russell's fascinating and provocative study explores several seemingly disparate historical realities - U.S. military strategy and propaganda during World Wars I and II, the rhetoric of the Cold War, and post-1945 insecticide research and advertising - to show the subtle connections among them. This brilliant and original book brings together important strands of twentieth-century American history in fresh and disturbing ways." Paul Boyer, Washburn Observatory"Elegant in its simplicity." Journal of the History of Medicine
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Product details
Series: Studies in Environment and History
Paperback: 332 pages
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1st Edition edition (February 12, 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0521799376
ISBN-13: 978-0521799379
Product Dimensions:
6 x 0.8 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.8 out of 5 stars
4 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#903,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A well written introduction to the history of US chemical warfare. Russell's discussion concerning the emergence of Chemical Corps and gradual adoption of incendiary bombs is quite precise. Generally an informative book.
a history of chemical use, and as usual abuse. It helps to show the history our flawed news media distorts.
War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring. By Edmund Russell. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 315 pp. ISBN 0-521-79937-6. Call no. QH 545. C48 R87 2001.)Boll Weevils and Lice and Mosquitoes, oh my!In the twentieth century insects and humans were common enemies. War and Nature is an exploration into the evolution of chemical warfare and pesticides from World War I to Rachel Carson's revolutionary book Silent Spring (1962). Russell explains how the cyclical nature of war and peace throughout the twentieth century developed a powerhouse of chemists who worked diligently to discover new formulas applicable in warfare and at home. He states, "war and the control of nature co-evolved: the control of nature expanded the scale of war, and war expanded the scale on which people controlled nature. More specifically, the control of nature formed one root of total war, and total war helped expand the control of nature to the scale rued by modern environmentalists" (p. 2). He uses convincing economic and natural evidence to support his claims, proving his clear cut thesis. Modern warfare was fought mainly across the Atlantic Ocean, but Russell points out the ecological results were felt on all sides of the globe. Americans developed a love for pesticides in the chemical age; Russell proves their love was a product of large corporations and excellent propaganda advertisements used to erase the line between military and civilian terminology.By the time U.S. troops were sent into the First World War, entomologists had discovered insects spread some infectious diseases. Their research was unable to produce a cheap and effective tool to avoid lice infestations carrying Typhus that eradicated 2-3 million Russians from 1917-1921 (p. 27). Russell claims Typhus and Germany's willingness to gas the Triple Entente inspired the United States government to get involved heavily into chemical exploration and the National Research Council was created to mobilize the chemists (p.36). By 1918 the United States had joined the War and Russell explains the Chemical Warfare Service (later to be called the Chemical Corps) and the U.S. Bureau of Entomology was researching fervently for new compounds effective to both kill insects and humans (p. 42). Russell proclaims the country had proved its manhood by, "marrying science and technology to war... industry and propaganda... link[ed] a variety of institutions- military and civilian, government and private... It thus changed American ideals... The U.S. would not be the same country exiting the war it had been going in" (p.50) The Author informs us the fight against Boll weevil's perplexed entomologists to a great extent, so much senators argued, even at a time of peace, the War Department should fund the research because cotton was required in times of war (p. 64). This is an example of what Russell later calls the "erased" lines of war and peace (p. 203) and an economic justification for chemical warfare had begun. Reclassifying chemical warfare as pest control was a genius move, not only did it make chemicals a matter of public health it also allowed for new advertisements trivializing foreign enemies into bugs. Russell explains, by World War II, aerial spraying had been developed and new insects named the Japanese beetle and the Hessian fly became the headline enemies in the "War on Insects" (p.110). Cornelia Lambert in her Review of this book stated, "The insecticide and gas warfare industries grew in tandem, each sheltered by Uncle Sam and shielded by propaganda," (Lambert, 376). Her assessment of the situation Russell explains in War and Nature is correct; the propaganda made the use of chemicals patriotic. The advertisement this reviewer sees at the most clear example of propaganda is of a Japanese beetle and a Hessian fly with a gun in their (Hitler like and Emperor Tojo like) faces and it reads, "Speaking of annihilation- the odors created by our adept perfume-chemists for your insecticides, slay the killing agent, pronto and quietly depart the battle scene. No trace remains-perfumed or otherwise," (p. 121). This ad creates a war like attitude towards bugs, emphasizing the annihilation of all enemies, which is critical to support Russell's' argument. DDT was/is capable of killing lice, roaches, termites, moths, bedbugs, Japanese beetles, flies and fleas. It wound up being proved (later) as the killer of birds, small mammals, fish and humans. Russell calls DDT's role in World War II, heroic like (p.129) but reminds the reader if its discovery had not been during a time of global war, the world wide application and discovery of its full uses could have been delayed or avoided because the need outweighed the known dangers at the time (p. 124). John Servos in his Review of War and Nature states Russell "revises the conventional wisdom in at least one instance, by showing that U.S. officials, public health experts, and entomologists harbored concerns about broad use of DDT even as it was first entering civilian markets" (Servos, 449) Russell claims companies were concerned about the possibility of future lawsuits over DDT because they knew so little of its long term effects, but they waived off these worries in light of the large profits they could obtain. The economic picture was all that mattered to the producers of the compound (25 different companies) in 1946 (p. 167), by 1952 Russell tells us "preventative entomology" was in play and the eradication of insects seemed possible (p, 185). The total war on nature took a turn towards annihilation after the public introduction of DDT. Now every house wife could spread the new poisons throughout the entire country and chemical companies could export millions of pounds to our allies for unmonitored agricultural applications to the peril of Mother Nature. War and Nature is a sad tale, especially if the reader has never read Carson's Silent Spring. If you have read Carson's work, then this book unfortunately shines only a small light on new information. Where Russell breaks new ground is his correlation between the Cold War and the notion of peace. The author claims after the advent of the Cold War our nation never ceased in developing chemical research now farmed out to public Universities, but still under War Department funding. Russell clearly explains how military and civilian issues intersected into one another's field and by the 1950s the line was obliterated forever. The silver lining on this dark cloud is Rachel Carson and her amazing book. Russell states, "the book reflected a growing unease about the distribution and use of power in the United States... the book reversed the image of pesticides cultivated over the preceding years," (p. 223). Russell's epilogue at times seems to wander aimlessly; he continues the time-line up to the Persian Gulf War (1990s). The new information was to explain the continual misuse of chemicals by the Federal Government, demonstrating that civilians learned more from Carson's book and he hope the lines are being restored between military and public life once again.Works CitedLambert, Cornelia. "Review." The British Journal for the History of Sciences 35 (2002): 375-376.Servos, John W. "Review." Technology and Culture 43 (2002): 448-450.
World War I was just the beginning of an ongoing cultural and scientific process in which chemical based weapons were created and marketed for use against human and insect enemies. Russell reminds us that the cultural, institutional, and political evolution of twentieth century science and warfare in the United States began not with the J. Robert Oppenheimer and the physicists of Los Alamos but with chemists like James B. Conant and his colleagues at Harvard and American University, emergent corporations like Dupont and the Hooker Company, and government agencies such as the Department of Agriculture and the United States Chemical Warfare Service. With an eye for detail and a witty and readable narrative style, the author assembles scientific papers, declassified governmental and military planning documents, trade journals, and propaganda and advertising literature to reshape our understanding not only of the role of chemistry in warfare, but more importantly the reflexive nature of our understanding and relation to both technology and nature during times of peace.
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