The Anthrax Letters: A Medical Detective Story

by Leonard A. Cole

Book Overview

At 2:00am on October 2, 2001, Robert Stevens entered a hospital emergency room. Feverish, nauseated, and barely conscious, no one knew what was making him sick. Three days later he was dead. Stevens... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 030908881X
• ISBN13: 9780309088817
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Joseph Henry Press
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Solid presentation; useful detail; a valuable contribution

I'm grateful to Mr. Cole for researching and writing this book. I work for the U.S. Postal Service and happened to find myself in the thick of this whole business in October 2001 in Boca Raton. Mr. Cole assembles the facts in a clear and logical way, provides useful digressions and details, and sheds light on many things that I did not understand before. This is very good work and, though some will undoubtedly question this detail or that, I think his book contains many valuable "lessons learned" which will assist those who have to deal with similar emergencies in the future.

The Jennifer Lopez anthrax letter

Leonard Cole's book provides new and compelling information that the anthrax letter sent to AMI (or at least one of them) was contained inside a love note addressed to Jennifer Lopez. If this startling information is to be seriously entertained it automatically leads to a number of very serious ramifications. One of these ramifications is the seemingly disconnected modus operandi from the senate letters and the NY media letters. Why on earth would the perpetrator of the world's first bioweapons terrorist attack choose to use the subject of an imaginary relationship with Jennifer Lopez?The second ramification then has to be seriously considered: It is established fact that the lead 9/11 hijacker, Mohammed Atta, was living near the AMI building in the weeks leading up to the attack. During these weeks it is known that Mohammed Atta was sending coded messages to a terrorist contact in Germany - the code he used to communicate was simple - he pretended to be writing to imaginary girlfriend - her name was "Jenny".All the documented evidence of this "Jenny" code can be seen at the webiste http://anthrax2001.blogspot.com

A compelling, important work

Reading Leonard Cole's "The Anthrax Letters" was a compelling experience. Attuned to the dull, less than erudite studies that I had previously read on the subject of bioterrorism, I was unprepared for Cole's gripping account of what occurred following the October 2001, outbreak of anthrax. His delineation of those events are of the highest reportorial level. Cole delves into every aspect, both medically and psychologically of the effects of anthrax in particular and bioterrorism in a broader sense on the American population. His writing is especially lucid and one keeps turning pages with a particular expectation, not dissimilar than when reading an action packed novel. Congratulations Leonard A Cole. Rarely does one find a read where at the end of the book one can feel a genuine intellectual enrichment while at the same time being thoroughly entertained.

Gripping, Moving, Important....A Very Significant Book

One great terrorism event of 2001, the attacks of September 11th, remains seared into America's national memory...as well it should. But another deadly deed, which unfolded just a few days later, seems to be rapidly receding from the foreground: the anthrax letters. In this powerful new book, Dr. Leonard Cole persuasively lays out a case why this act of bioterrorism should not be forgotten. Dr. Cole's book is, as the subtitle suggests, a true medical detective story. It took great insight and certain leaps of faith for the first health professionals who confronted this situation to recognize it for what it was. Anthrax in humans was, and fortunately, is, quite rare. And although there had been hoax letters previously claiming to contain anthrax, it had never actually been transmitted by the U.S. Mail before this incident. Thanks to exhaustive interviews with the professionals, survivors and families of the victims, Cole is able to present an almost minute-by-minute account of the appearance of the disease, the search for answers, and the aftermath. Although the public health community was the target of much criticism in the hysteria following in the immediate wake of the event, Cole suggests, and rightly so, I believe, that most of the people are truly unsung heroes. Beyond being a record of a deadly crisis, Cole poses some important questions. Are we better prepared for the next bioterrorist event? The answer is a qualified yes. The scientific and health communities seem to be better informed, and have established important networks of communication and cooperation. But what of the public at large? Here, the signs are not so hopeful. I must praise this book for another reason: its readability. Cole lays out the science in terms that are crystalline clear. He provides just enough details about people and places to make them living, flesh and blood individuals, not lifeless characters on a page. And I'm sure he practiced admirable restraint in distilling what must have been a massive amount of research into a concise package. Too many writers these days seem to be falling victim to the "file dump" phenomenon--wanting to make sure all their hard work finds its way between covers. A worthwhile and important book.--William C. Hall

Anthrax - We are so vulnerable!

Dr. Leonard Cole's "The Anthrax Letters"is a very engaging, in fact gripping, account of the first and uncertain steps that went into the identification of systemic anthrax as the disease responsible for the mysterious illnesses that affected 11 individuals and killed five. The illness appeared out of nowhere and was traced to letters sent from a Newark, New Jersey address. Cole traces the connections through interviews with true-to-life personalities, including disease survivors. It is a medical detective story that captures the high drama of the events and the associated widespread anxieties. This book transcends sophisticated investigative reporting. It gives simple but accurate explanations of the scientific problems involved in producing "weapon grade" anthrax spores, and the techniques required to identify a disease that almost none of the first responders had ever seen before. It also points out our weaknesses in dealing with potential bioterrorism. The book is beautifully written. I think that it will be widely read by concerned members of the public, as well as audiences drawn from law enforcement, government, and science.Paul Talalay MD, Professor of Pharmacology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205. email: ptalalay@jhmi.edu