Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

by Robert Graysmith (Author) "THE SQUEAK OF a wayward wheel marked the path of an elderly man..." (more)
Key Phrases: anthrax killer, transmittal envelope, anthrax mailer, New York, United States, Fort Detrick (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Who was the anthrax killer?
Six days after the 9/11 attacks, a new terror began to spread...

September 17, 2001: A Florida tabloid receives a love letter addressed to Jennifer Lopez. The paper's photo editor opens it--and, unknowingly, inhales thousands of toxic spores. By 10/5 he's dead.

October 12, 2001: NBC anchor Tom Brokaw's assistant tests positive for cutaneous anthrax, a result of exposure to a powder in an envelope she inhaled three weeks before.

In the days that followed, 28 more people tested positive for anthrax, plunging an entire country into the frontlines of an insidious bioterror.

The anthrax war had begun.

This is the most comprehensive work to date about the plague of terror that arose in the wake of 9/11--and the relentless scientific manhunt to answer the question of who the anthrax killer was. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author
Robert Graysmith is the national bestselling author of Zodiac, Zodiac Unmasked, The Murder of Bob Crane, and The Sleeping Lady. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• ISBN-10: 0425191907
• ASIN: B000IOEVZS
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,740,598 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Fifth Plague" Comes Upon America, February 26, 2009

By	Acute Observer (N. Jersey Shore) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer (Paperback)

Robert Graysmith, a political cartoonist for a San Francisco newspaper, wrote other books ("Zodiac", "Zodiac Unmasked") about a true crime of the late 1960s. This 2003 book of 500 pages has loads of details about the unsolved terrorist poisoning. The `Prologue' notes that the destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers was caused by their deficient design and construction. The collapse of one weakened floor led to a chain reaction that destroyed the buildings. There was no attempt to destroy traditional high-rise buildings whose steel frames were encased in concrete. The `Empire State Building' survived an accidental crash of a medium bomber in 1945. The collapsed towers spewed toxic dust throughout lower Manhattan, the financial capital of America.

On September 2001 letters containing anthrax spores were received at a weekly tabloid publishing company in Boca Raton. People were sickened, one died. Inhalational anthrax was discovered in the 19th century industrial factories that processed textiles and leather from animal products. Gardeners who used contaminated bone meal fertilizers were infected. More letters were mailed to New York and Washington. Some postal workers developed rashes and lesions from handling the mail. The Army began a biological weapons program in 1942 (Chapter 7). Chemical weapons were prohibited by the 1925 Geneva Protocol. The 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention was adopted, but some countries kept supplies for retaliation. [The murder of Dr. Parkman by Dr. Webster was caused by a loan that was overdue (p.97).] Letters to US Senators contaminated the Washington postal facilities (Chapter 8). Washington postal workers were infected and some died (Chapter 10).

Chapter 13 tells of the Army's 1966 test that spread bacteria in the New York City subway system. Chapter 14 is about the Soviet germ warfare laboratory in Sverdlovsk. In 1979 an accident (a missing filter) spread anthrax spores into the air. Over a hundred people died, mostly middle-aged men who were outside at night. Chapter 16 has a good story on postal inspectors. [As I remember it, the `Mad Bomber' was caught after NY police searched Con Ed's old correspondence files until they found matching handwriting samples.] The `profile' is discussed in Chapter 17. A human breath can leave DNA on a sheet of paper (p.255). Poison pen letters can create much trouble to innocent people. Sometimes they are written by strangers (p.256). Domestic terrorists have poisoned people (p.264). Anthrax is a recurrent disease to grass-eating animals, but a vaccine prevents the disease.

Chapter 23 tells how the US Army secretly tested biological weapons on American citizens. [Who ordered this?] The contaminated buildings were sanitized (Chapter 24). The anthrax in the letters could only have come from the US bioweapons program (p.292)! Security was poor at Government labs (p.294). One scientist said the anthrax used was beyond the capabilities of a lone individual (p.302). Genomics is a tool for the forensic analysis of microbes (Chapter 26). Identifying the strain might deter future attacks (p.314). Did the Government fail to safeguard postal workers (p.319)? Did many leave the military because of the anthrax vaccine (p.323)? Was a person harassed to get him fired (p.328)? Was "the Concern" an example of waste that led to bankruptcy (Chapter 28)? Page 355 reveals how people are harassed. Can people be assassinated by bacteria (p.362)? Or destroy herds of cattle (p.363)? The Jewell incident shows the fallibility of the corporate press (p.377). Was the blame of Hatfill designed to hide the lack of a solution (p.398)? Character assassination (p.413)? Does the press have any shame or honesty (pp.414-415)? More nasty work on pages 416-418. Chapter 37 finished the book. Who done it?"We will likely never know" (p.439). Was the attack aimed against the two US Senators opposed to the "Patriot Act" (p.442)? The `Epilogue' asks if Hatfill will ever get his day in court (p.447). [Will the blame be laid on a dead man?]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but too long, July 31, 2008

By	Mark Wuschke "Noumea" (Brisbane, Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer (Paperback)

Not living in America, I knew relatively little about the Anthrax killer, so the story was new to me.

Its strengths are the detailed review of the facts of the case, and the telling of the general history of biological warfare since WW2. It also tells us about the unfortunate victims and their terrible suffering.

The trouble is, it tries to weave too many different things into a single narrative, which gets confusing. There is a lot of back tracking, and the story is interrupted constantly by anecdotes about Soviet, American, and Iraqi anthrax factories, previous anthrax leaks, the Una bomber, and various other mail-crimes, some of which are repetitive and not terribly relevant.

I did like the book tho, it sent a chill up my spine more than once. Consider the fact that several countries now stock enough anthrax bombs to kill every person on earth! Terrifying when you think about it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating read, March 18, 2008

By	Robert W. Smith "Robert Smith, Ph.D." (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Amerithrax: The Hunt for the Anthrax Killer (Hardcover)

this was a fairly quick read. as we all know the plot, the writer offers many details unknown and some interesting analyses. i felt carried along for hundreds of pages, only to be dropped in the end without resolution - of course, our finest investigative services have publicly never reached a conclusion either. reading this book is a lot like listening to someone describe a web. there's no simple way to describe one with its concentric lines of slightly different thicknesses and angles. same with this book, the facts from different sites and the progress (or lack thereof) at each site make for a quite difficult story to tell. this was far from one of the best books that i've read in the past 12 months, but it is a topic in which i am puzzled. it is a worthwhile read, if you can tolerate the above limitations, new or used.