Catalogue Search | MBRL
Are you sure you want to remove the book from the shelf?
{{itemTitle}}
2,185
result(s) for
"Martini, Edwin A"
Sort by:
Agent Orange
Taking on what one former U.S. ambassador called “the last ghost of the Vietnam War,” this book examines the farreaching impact of Agent Orange, the most infamous of the dioxincontaminated herbicides used by American forces in Southeast Asia. Edwin A. Martini’s aim is not simply to reconstruct the history of the “chemical war” but to investigate the ongoing controversy over the short and longterm effects of weaponized defoliants on the environment of Vietnam, on the civilian population, and on the troops who fought on both sides. Beginning in the early 1960s, when Agent Orange was first deployed in Vietnam, Martini follows the story across geographical and disciplinary boundaries, looking for answers to a host of still unresolved questions. What did chemical manufacturers and American policymakers know about the effects of dioxin on human beings, and when did they know it? How much do scientists and doctors know even today? Should the use of Agent Orange be considered a form of chemical warfare? What can, and should, be done for U.S. veterans, Vietnamese victims, and others around the world who believe they have medical problems caused by Agent Orange? Martini draws on military records, government reports, scientific research, visits to contaminated sites, and interviews to disentangle conflicting claims and evaluate often ambiguous evidence. He shows that the impact of Agent Orange has been global in its reach affecting individuals and communities in New Zealand, Australia, Korea, and Canada as well as Vietnam and the United States. Yet for all the answers it provides, this book also reveals how much uncertainty—scientific, medical, legal, and political—continues to surround the legacy of Agent Orange.
eBook
Proving Grounds
Proving Grounds brings together a wide range of scholars across disciplines and geographical borders to deepen our understanding of the environmental impact that the U.S. military presence has had at home and abroad. The essays in this collection survey the environmental damage caused by weapons testing and military bases to local residents, animal populations, and landscapes, and they examine the military’s efforts to close and repurpose bases—often as wildlife reserves. Together they present a complex and nuanced view that embraces the ironies, contradictions, and unintended consequences of U.S. militarism around the world. In complicating our understanding of the American military’s worldwide presence, the essayists also reveal the rare cases when the military is actually ahead of the curve on environmental regulation compared to the private sector. The result is the most comprehensive examination to date of the U.S. military’s environmental footprint—for better or worse—across the globe.
eBook
Hearts, Minds, and Herbicides
In the early years of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, the Departments of State and Defense battled over the decision to use chemical herbicides to defoliate the landscape and destroy enemy access crops. While the Pentagon won the initial battle, allowing herbicidal warfare to proceed, State's concerns about program ultimately proved prophetic as the chemical war waged by the United States in Southeast Asia further alienated the Vietnamese villagers the program was ostensibly designed to protect. This essay moves beyond previous studies of Operation Ranch Hand by exploring the politics of the herbicidal warfare, and crop destruction in particular, from Washington D.C. to MACV to Vietnamese villages. Drawing on previously unexplored archival sources, this essay explores contemporary reactions to the herbicide program and shows how the chemical war embodied the larger contradictions of the American war in Vietnam.
Journal Article
Agent Orange : history, science, and the politics of uncertainty / Edwin A. Martini
\"Taking on what one former U.S. ambassador called \"the last ghost of the Vietnam War,\" this book examines the far-reaching impact of Agent Orange, the most infamous of the dioxin-contaminated herbicides used by American forces in Southeast Asia. Beginning in the early 1960s, when chemical defoliants were first deployed in Vietnam, Edwin A. Martini looks for answers to a host of still unresolved questions. What did chemical manufacturers and American policymakers know about the effects of dioxin on human beings, and when did they know it? How much do scientists and doctors know even today? Was the use of Agent Orange a form of chemical warfare? What can, and should, be done for U.S. veterans, Vietnamese victims, and others around the world who believe they have medical problems caused by Agent Orange? Martini draws on military and government records, scientific research, visits to contaminated sites, and personal interviews to disentangle conflicting claims and evaluate often ambiguous evidence. Yet for all the answers it provides, this book also reveals how much uncertainty-scientific, medical, legal, and political-continues to surround the legacy of Agent Orange.\"--Back cover
eBook
THIS IS REALLY BAD STUFF BURIED HERE
ON April 15, 1970, the secretaries of the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Interior, and Health, Education, and Welfare announced at a White House press conference that the government was suspending registration of the herbicide 2,4,5-T. This decision effectively made it illegal to sell or transport products containing the compound for most domestic purposes while at the same time such products were allowed to be sprayed along roadsides and on nonagricultural ranchlands. Although known by few Americans at the time, 2,4,5-T was a common ingredient in many commercial grade and household weed killers. It was also one half of the chemical
Book Chapter
