Dead Silence: Fear and Terror on the Anthrax Trail

by Bob Coen, Eric Nadler

Dead Silence —the first in-depth look into the new biological arms race—tells the inside story of the U.S. anthrax attacks and their connection to the existence of a frightening global germ warfare underworld.

Dead Silence follows a journalist and a private eye as they pursue leads that take them across four continents, inside classified labs in the U.S., and to an off-limits Russian military compound. In South Africa they track down “Doctor Death,” the apartheid army scientist who—using the expertise of his U.S. and U.K. intelligence contacts—worked on an array of germ weapons, including one targeting black people, a weapon that may be for sale on the black market today.

Their investigation intensifies to include the mysterious deaths of some of the world’s leading germ war scientists in the wake of 9/11, including that of Bruce Ivins—the man the tabloids called “Doctor Doom” and the FBI controversially insists is the lone perpetrator of the anthrax attacks.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2009

Reviews

[Michele · Rating 2 out of 5]

As I said in the update, this book was not a scholarly work. I didn't finish it because though the topic was interesting and their thesis provocative, it was not well-researched. The authors describe by innuendo mostly a network of biological weapons manufacturers tied together loosely and traveling in the same circles and through the same revolving doors between government and industry. The main point is that the FBI could not investigate the anthrax attacks in the US properly because it would have uncovered crimes against humanity. The crimes, including, the authors insinuate, the introduction of both anthrax and HIV epidemics in Africa, have been committed by the white Afrikaners in South Africa and Zimbabwe, but they were given the green light by the US, the UK, and other NATO countries. The authors charge, without proof of any kind, that personnel and virus material changed hands from country to country, and that some of the research attempted to target African genes. They did't mention Reagan and Saddam, but it reminded me very much of the deal they had which led to the poisoning of the Kurds. And just like Watergate, a criminal investigation had to be obstructed because it would have lead to even greater crimes. The unfortunate part is that we in the US can no longer catch the bad guys, nor does the populace have the slightest interest in doing so.

Assuming that the authors got any of the story right, which one could not tell from reading their unfootnoted book.

[Alec Gray · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not many books on the anthrax attack- a story which is cmpletely underreported and could have very well been government/industry sponsered. These authors have been on the trail and have a lot of interesting stuff on the topic, but don't really pose any theories or tie things together. Still, worth reading

[Sophia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, but not incredibly factual. If you're going to read it, read it for funsies, and don't take it seriously.