Scourge: The Once And Future Threat of Smallpox

Unlike most of its victims, smallpox has had a long life: The scourge appeared at least as early as 8000 B.C., and it wasn't declared eradicated until 1980. Dr. Jonathan Tucker, director of the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program at the Monterey Institute, is convinced that we still stand in peril of its death force. He cites disturbing evidence about a Russian bioweapons program launched in 1973. Called Biopreparat, it was described by a Russian defector as "our Manhattan Project." Its scientists, like diabolical plotters in a graphic novel, researched the genocidal potential of Black Death, Marburg, smallpox, and other scourges. They even prepared a giant popsicle of death: a 20-ton freeze-dried batch of smallpox. Terrifying as it is, Scourge draws you in.