Review by Choice Review
This memoir by Soviet scientist-administrator Domaradskij documents not only the Russian program to develop biological weapons but also the relationship between scientists and the state. He devoted his early years to plague control and writes with passion about the difficulties of searching for scientific truth in a state that officially rejected the fundamental principles of modern biology. Mendelian genetics and evolution had been proscribed on ideological grounds, and scientific research based on these principles could lead to imprisonment. Domaradskij nonetheless managed to work around these restrictions--and the bureaucrats who enforced them. Gaining a reputation as a plague-control specialist, he was brought into the bioweapons program to develop genetically modified strains suitable for military purposes. A patriot who distrusted the US, he believed in what he was doing. This insightful account of a scientist-in-wonderland deserves wide readership. Important for new insights into the former Soviet bioweapons program, it also is an instructive example of what can happen when scientific truth is dictated by ideology--or religion. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals; two-year technical program students. W. M. Leary University of Georgia
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This autobiography of a Soviet scientist works better as memoir than it does as insight into the biological threat that might exist from research done in the former Soviet Union. After a somewhat lengthy description of his childhood and early adult years in the 1930s and '40s, Domaradskij, now chief research fellow at the Moscow Gabrichevsky G.N. Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, depicts his rapid rise in the Soviet research system. For several decades, Domaradskij worked as an epidemiological researcher. Then in 1970 he was called to work on the Soviet secret biological weapons program. (He reiterates from firsthand knowledge what has long been known: when inconvenient, the Soviets simply ignored international treaties, such as those regarding banned weapons.) What comes through from his description of Biopreparat, as the program was known, is not its technological advances-Domaradskij admits that its major achievement has long since been scientifically superseded-but the petty bureaucracy of the Soviet system. As was the case throughout the Soviet Union, science took a back seat to politics, and personal advancement and greasing the palms of one's superiors took priority over cutting-edge research. Domaradskij bit his tongue for a while before speaking out against the program and eventually losing his prestigious position. In this sometimes laborious read, he shows how the Communist system's excesses eventually pushed a loyal-and rewarded-citizen into the status of a semidissident. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Domaradskij has enjoyed a long and distinguished career as a microbiologist in the Soviet Union, first in legitimate epidemiological control research, then in covert defense operations against offensive biological weapons. In 1970, he was transferred to the weapons development program, Biopreparat, where he attempted to develop new germ weapons. Now nearly 80 and still living in Moscow, he has written this memoir to explain his involvement and offer his take on the bureaucratic struggles in which he was caught. As a child of the 1930s who had seen close relatives disappear into Stalin's purges, he concluded that he had no choice but to join the Communist Party and to take the jobs assigned to him, despite his preference for lab research. The factual presentation, unfortunately, includes little psychological insight, so readers don't get a sense of the agonizing decisions Domaradskij was forced to make. Readers of Loren Graham's books on Soviet science will recognize the tension between the demands of science and those of the Communist Party. Despite the awkward presentation, specialized collections dealing with weapons of mass destruction will still want this. Defector Ken Alibek published a widely known account of Biopreparat in Biohazard.-Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
