War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda [Paperback]

Jonathan Tucker (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1400032334 | ISBN-13: 978-1400032334 | Publication Date: February 13, 2007

In this important and revelatory book, Jonathan Tucker, a leading expert on chemical and biological weapons, chronicles the lethal history of chemical warfare from World War I to the present.
At the turn of the twentieth century, the rise of synthetic chemistry made the large-scale use of toxic chemicals on the battlefield both feasible and cheap. Tucker explores the long debate over the military utility and morality of chemical warfare, from the first chlorine gas attack at Ypres in 1915 to Hitler’s reluctance to use nerve agents (he believed, incorrectly, that the U.S. could retaliate in kind) to Saddam Hussein’s gassing of his own people, and concludes with the emergent threat of chemical terrorism. Moving beyond history to the twenty-first century, War of Nerves makes clear that we are at a crossroads that could lead either to the further spread of these weapons or to their ultimate abolition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

According to arms control expert Tucker, chemical weapons—and efforts to ban them—are almost as old as war itself. The ancient Greeks and Romans tried to outlaw poison, and in 1675 the French and German empires signed a treaty that outlawed poisoned bullets. By WWI, the "futile slaughter of trench warfare" made toxic gases more attractive to the German High Command—and then everybody else. Fear of reprisal precluded the use of nerve agents in WWII battlefields, but the Nazis found Zyklon B, an insecticide, to be an effective instrument of death in their gas chambers. In the 1950s and '60s, virtually every major power was developing and testing chemical weapons, and this deadly technology was often granted to client states: Egypt used nerve agents in its 1962 war against Yemen, and Iraq frequently used nerve agents against its Kurds. Despite current debates about weapons of mass destruction, Tucker's main points are not about warfare: his description of the 1995 Tokyo subway attack proves that with enough money, any madman can develop nerve gas. In his final pages, Tucker does point out that we have "grounds for hope as well as concern," but many readers will only find cause for pessimism. Regardless, this is a sobering, detailed and necessary book. (Feb. 7)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Nerve agents have been in existence since the 1930s, when German scientists invented them. But not even Hitler had the nerve to use them; for crossing that Rubicon, the world has fallen dictator Saddam Hussein to blame. Both tyrants appear in Tucker's history of nerve agents, which is notably informative and clearly written. Though readers will learn how the poison is manufactured and the morbidity of its biological action, they will cleave to Tucker for his accounting of the rationales for making the stuff in the first place. An arms-control expert who has worked in Washington's agencies and think tanks, Tucker imparts the shock of the Allies upon discovering what the Nazis had wrought. At first merely keeping the German stockpile, they built their own production complexes in the 1950s. Yet strategists could never clarify the military sense of nerve agents, while technicians were forced to contend with the inevitable leaks, which cultivated sentiment favoring abolition. Undeterred by international conventions, terrorists' interest in nerve agents generates Tucker's disquieting conclusion to his essential background history. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 496 pages
• Publisher: Anchor (February 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400032334
• ISBN-13: 978-1400032334
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #634,119 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wealth of Information, May 2, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to al-Qaeda (Hardcover)

In my opinion, this book has a slight misnomer in the title. It's not really on chemical warfare as it is on nerve agents -- It could almost be titled 'All you ever wanted to know about nerve gas but didn't know who to ask.' The story begins with World War I, and the standard gasses that were used such as mustard and chlorine.

It is an excellent primer on the history, manufacture, use, storage, disposal, and just about everything else regarding nerve gas. One thing that I was surprised to not find was any reference to Japan's Unit 731 which conducted chemical warfare experiments in China during World War II.

Finally, since the book was written information has come out about one of the roadside bombs that the insurgents set off in Iraq. This was a binary nerve gas artillery shell. Fortunately, the shell was designed so that it had to be fired from a cannon to be armed. When it was set off on the ground the two agents did not mix and only a very small amount of nerve agent was generated.

This book is not exactly light, fun reading, but it is a sign of our times and it is to be expected that al-Queda or some other organization will succeed one day.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars THE history of nerve gas, March 25, 2006

By 

Stanley Roberts (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to al-Qaeda (Hardcover)

The subtitle of this book, Chemical Warfare from World War I to Al-Qaeda, is a bit misleading. While the first chapter does provide a quick overview of the military use of chemical weapons in the Great War, this is really a history of one type of chemical weapon: nerve agents. And, as a history of nerve agents, it is an outstanding one. Covering the early days of German development in a fine detail as well as post-war US and, a more difficult proposition, Soviet work (And even a few words about the French and British), it presents a coherent picture of the whys and wherefores of these agents. Its coverage of the Novichok/Foliant programs is probably the best unclassified version you will see. It also gives a good overview of the Iraqi projects and use, and provides a useful level of detail about the Aum uses of sarin. In short, if you are interested in these agents, either from a historical perspective or because you need to know what to do about them, this is worth your time. (And it is not a painful read, although one doesn't use words like entertaining when talking about this topic.)

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Probably the Best and Most Current Book in the Field!, October 21, 2006

By 

Thomas W. Spoehr - See all my reviews
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This review is from: War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to al-Qaeda (Hardcover)

For my money, the best and certainly the most current book on the history of Chemical Warfare. Provides a lot of extraordinary detail on both the U.S. and Soviet Union's offensive Chemical Warfare programs. Easily readable with good, clear prose. Contains more detail than a casual reader might prefer, but for those with an interest, this book definitely satisfies. Deserves a place on the shelf of anyone that is engaged in this profession or with an active interest.