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Book explores germ warfare
Nancy Pate
Knight Ridder tribune
"Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War'' by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad; Touchstone ($14): Anthrax, smallpox, the plague. In the wake of Sept. 11, this book on germ warfare became a best-selling hardcover. With a new afterword for this edition on the anthrax letters and investigation, it proves even more timely. The three journalist/authors explore the history of germ warfare within the framework of scientific advances. Smallpox, for example, has been eradicated, but vials of the virus remain in research labs, potential biological bombs. The consequences of lethal germs on the loose is scary indeed.
TURNING POINT
"The Most Glorious Fourth: Vicksburg and Gettysburg, July 4, 1863'' by Duane Schultz; Norton ($15.95): Many Americans know that July 4, 1863, saw the end of the crucial battle at Gettysburg, Pa. Fewer may realize that the Confederates surrendered Vicksburg, Miss., at almost the same time, after a long siege of the important river town. Schultz, a Clearwater writer with nine military histories to his credit, interweaves the stories of the two bloody battles. He begins on July 2, when the outcome was by no means certain, and Lincoln feared that Independence Day would arrive with a Union perhaps forever divided. Although Schultz writes vividly of the military actions and the legendary commanders-Lee, Grant, Meade-he also recounts the stories of ordinary soldiers and civilians caught up in the struggles.
NOVEL APPROACH
"The Vintage Book of War Fiction,'' edited by Sebastian Faulks and Jorg Hensgen; Vintage ($14): Historians give us the facts and context, but skilled fiction writers have a way of bringing war home to readers. This anthology of short stories and novels about 20th-century conflicts rests on some old war horses, so to speak, but at least they're the right ones-Erich Maria Remarque, Ernest Hemingway, James Jones, Joseph Heller, James Salter, among others. Add in some newer literary voices, such as Pat Barker and Larry Heinemann, and you have a book that reaches from the trenches of World War I to the jungles of Vietnam. As with any anthology, it's easy to argue with the selections-a short excerpt from Kurt Vonnegut's "Palm Sunday'' about Dresden instead of something more compelling from his classic "Slaughterhouse-Five.'' Thank goodness, though, for Tim O'Brien's memorable and profound Vietnam tale, "How to Tell a True War Story." As he writes, "If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue."
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