Interweaves up-to-date medical information concerning the incidence and treatments of childhood leukemia and the problems that remain with an account of the disease's impact on a young girl and her family

Ellie - A Child's Fight Against Leukemia

Tucker, Jonathan

Children's Books

Henry Holt Co.

Statesmen, generals, and diplomats have long debated the military utility and morality of chemical warfare. In 1925, the use of chemical weapons in war was prohibited by international treaty; in 1997 the ban on the use of chemical weapons was extended to cover their development, production, and stockpiling. Nevertheless, Iraq employed chemical weapons on a large scale as recently as the 1980s, first during its eight-year war with Iran and then against its rebellious Kurdish minority. In War of Nerves, Jonathan Tucker, a leading expert on chemical and biological weapons, writes about chemical warfare from World War I to the present. The author makes clear how, at the turn of the twentieth century, the large-scale use of toxic chemicals on the battlefield became feasible and cheap; how Germany first developed and employed toxic weapons during World War I, burying some 6,000 cylinders (containing 168 tons of chlorine) opposite the Allied trenches defending the town of Ypres, in Belgium. German troops simultaneously opened the chlorine cylinders, panicking two French divisions and tearing a gap four miles wide in the Ypres front. Chemical warfare had begun: five months later, the Allies retaliated with their own use of chlorine gas. By the end of the war, chemical warfare had inflicted roughly one million casualties, 90,000 of them fatal. Tucker writes about the synthesis of the first nerve agent—Tabun—in 1936 by a German industrial chemist developing new pesticides how its high toxicity made it unusable as a pesticide but viable as a weapon for the Nazi regime. A few years later, two even more toxic nerve agents—Sarin and Soman—were developed for military use. Hitler never employed this secret weapon; German intelligence concluded—incorrectly—that the Allies had developed a similar capability. Following World War II, we see the rise of a Cold War chemical competition between the United States and the Soviet Union that paralleled the nuclear arms race, as each pursued the secrets of the German nerve agents; how the United States and Britain planned to mass-produce Sarin (only the United States did); how the superpowers developed and mass-produced V-agents, a new generation of nerve agents of extraordinary potency; and how nerve agents spread to the Third World, including their suspected use by Egypt during the Yemen Civil War (1963—1967), as well as Iraq’s use of nerve agents in its war against Iran and on its own people. Iraq’s use of nerve agents hastened the negotiation of an international treaty banning the use of chemical weapons, which went into effect in 1997. Although the treaty now has more than 175 member-states, al-Qaeda and related terrorist groups are seeking to acquire nerve agents. In this important and revelatory book, Jonathan Tucker makes clear that we are at a crossroads that could lead either to the further spread of these weapons or to their ultimate abolition.

War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I to al-Qaeda

History

Military

Pantheon

The Silk Road: Art and History

Arts & Photography

Art Media Resources Ltd

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.

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

Anchor

A celebration of the cultural heritage of the countries along the Silk Road, this book is a detailed, lavishly illustrated exploration of the the ancient trade route between Europe and Asia, more specifically between Rome and the old Chinese capital of Xian. The author provides a comprehensive history of the Silk Road and examines many of the most celebrated works of art discovered in each country, and sets them in their historical and geographical context. Drawing freely on anecdotes, and literary and historical sources, he examines the lives of the merchants and other travellers who used this route and the way in which their activities related to the works of art that were created. Vignettes and poems from the heyday of the great trading route punctuate a lively and colourful book, which also benefits from Antonia Tozer’s exceptionally evocative photographs of landscapes and people. 
Chapters range from Precursors and The Manufacture of Silk, through China and Central Asia to Rediscovery in the Twentieth Century and Lost Art of the Silk Road. There is a glossary of foreign and technical terms, as well as chronologies for each period of history for the main sections of the Silk Road, and a bibliography and index.

History & Criticism

This beautifully illustrated book is intended as background reading for travelers on one of the most popular sections of the Silk Road—the Xian to Kashgar route through China, linking with the Karakorum Highway through Northern Pakistan. The ancient trade routes between Europe and the Orient, specifically between Rome and the old Chinese capital of Xian, endured for almost two thousand years. Along with trade goods came new ideas—religions, medical knowledge, and scientific and technological innovations passed in both directions and the Silk Road became a great network of veins and arteries, carrying the life-blood of nations across the known world. The Silk Road is a concise, more portable version of Jonathan Tucker’s acclaimed book, The Silk Road: Art and History, acclaimed by the Literary Review as “a beautiful book . . . the most informative work on the subject.” Replete with fascinating details of the main historical sites, works of art, accounts by ancient and modern travelers, legends, poetry and other literary references, photographs, maps, and site-plans, this will be essential reading for all those interested in or planning to travel the ancient Silk Road.

Silk Road, The―China and the Karakorum Highway: A Travel Companion

THEROUX,PAUL

Asia

I.B.Tauris

Stretching from the ancient Chinese capital of Xian across the expanses of Central Asia to Rome, the Silk Road was, for 2,000 years, a vibrant network of arteries that carried the lifeblood of nations across the world. Along a multitude of routes everything was exchanged: exotic goods, art, knowledge, religion, philosophy, disease and war. From its earliest beginnings in the days of Alexander the Great and the Han Dynasty, the Silk Road expanded and evolved, reaching its peak under the Tang and Byzantine empires and gradually crumbling with the decline of the Mongol empire. In this beautifully illustrated book, which covers the Central Asian section of the Silk Road–from Lake Issy Kul through Tashkent, Samarkand, Bukhara, the Kyzyl Kum Desert, Khiva and Merv to Herat, Kabul and Iran–Tucker uses traveler’s anecdotes and a wealth of literary and historical sources to celebrate the cultural heritage of the countries that lie along the Silk Road and illuminate the lives of those who once traveled through the very heart of the world.

Silk Road, The―Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran: A Travel Companion

The Silk Road: Central Asia, Afghanistan and Iran: A Travel Companion

Tauris Parke

Made famous in the West by the Venetian adventurer Marco Polo, the ancient Silk Road spanned one-quarter of the circumference of the Earth. The network developed over many centuries, and as trading patterns shifted, cities rose and fell in importance. In its heyday it stretched from Luoyang and Xi'an in China, through Central Asia to Istanbul and Rome. For this 2nd Edition, a number of important trade routes dating to more recent centuries are shown, with four detailed maps of the Silk Road’s arteries supplemented by 33 colour photographs and historical notes on key places and notable people.

The Ancient Silk Road: An Illustrated Map Featuring the ancient network of routes between China and Europe

Reference

Tozer, Antonia

Atlases & Maps

Odyssey Books & Maps

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