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- Familiar as we are with the horrific
history of Nazi medicine and science, it may come as a surprise to learn
that the Nazi war against cancer was the most aggressive in the world.
Robert N. Proctor's thought-provoking book, The Nazi War on Cancer recounts
this little-known story. The Nazis were very concerned about protecting
the health of the "Volk." Cancer was seen as a growing threat--and
perhaps even held a special place in Adolf Hitler's imagination (his mother,
Klara, died from breast cancer in 1907). The Nazi doctors fought their
war against cancer on many fronts, battling environmental and workplace
hazards (restrictions on the use of asbestos) and recommending food standards
(bans on carcinogenic pesticides and food dyes) and early detection ("men
were advised to get their colons checked as often as they would check
the engines of their cars...").
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- Armed with the world's most sophisticated
tobacco-disease epidemiology--they were the first to link smoking to lung
cancer definitively--Nazi doctors were especially passionate about the
hazards of tobacco. Hitler himself was a devout nonsmoker, and credited
his political success to kicking the habit. Proctor does an excellent
job of charting these anticancer efforts--part of what he terms "the
'flip side' of fascism"--and, along the way, touches on some unsettling
issues. Can an immoral regime promote and produce morally responsible science?
Or, in Proctor's words, "Do we look at history differently when we
learn that ... Nazi health officials worried about asbestos-induced lung
cancer? I think we do. We learn that Nazism was a more subtle phenomenon
than we commonly imagine, more seductive, more plausible."
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- Proctor is no apologist--one of his earlier
books, Racial Hygiene is a scathing account of Nazi atrocities--but he
clearly wants to engage in the complex moral discussions surrounding the
fascist production of science and Holocaust studies. Proctor's thorough
research, excellent examples, and dozens of illustrations are complemented
by his authoritative prose. The Nazi War on Cancer is a fine addition
to the literature on both the Holocaust and the history of medicine. --C.B.
Delaney
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- The New York Times Book Review, Michael
Sherry His triumph lies in showing how many impulses could be braided
into the prevailing Nazi ethos. And he commands an astonishing volume
of detail.
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- From Booklist, April 1, 1999 Under the
Nazis, German epidemiologists were the first in the world to prove that
smoking was the major cause of lung cancer. Proctor brings up other advances
the Germans made, such as noting the dangers of passive smoking and radon,
most of which have been overlooked by American historians. That oversight
is most interesting, considering that after the war the U.S. military
commissioned many of the German scientists involved in cancer research
to write up their work. Proctor describes the Nazi-era programs and scientific
work with tobacco, alcohol, and industrial chemicals in detail, enlivening
his account with anecdotes and a smooth sense of humor. He also reports
how the tobacco industry fought back. The text is well documented, and
the illustrations--posters and other propaganda pieces--are striking and
pertinent. The Nazis saw tobacco as a hazard to the race. Hitler had given
up smoking before coming to power and seldom drank alcoholic beverages,
and other Nazi leaders also served as role models. Fascinating stuff. William
Beatty Copyright© 1999, American Library Association. All rights
reserved
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- From Kirkus Reviews , April 28, 1999
A fascinating look at German contributions to the study of cancer. Nazi
doctors are known for the cruel human experiments they conducted on concentration
camp inmates, their euthanasia program, and their willing participation
in the selection process at the death camps. Proctor (History of Science/Pennsylvania
State Univ.) detailed some of this hideous behavior a decade ago in Racial
Hygiene (1988). Here, he makes a major contribution to our knowledge of
the other side of Nazi medicine, the study of disease. Proctors account
is well-researched and richly illustrated, and he delineates carefully
documented facts in fluid prose. But the book is marred by an unclear
argument exemplified by its deceiving title.
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- Its actual subject is German research
surrounding the cause, prevention, and cure of cancer, not just under
the Nazis, but from the late 19th century through the early Cold War period.
This includes the leading role German scientists played in diagnosing
and fighting occupational hazards that caused cancer, in particular the
proof they marshaled in the 1940s that smoking cigarettes caused lung
cancer. Efforts to improve health through bans on smoking and alcohol
were encouraged in the more racially and hygienically conscious circles
of the Nazi hierarchy, especially the SS. Yet war shortages and stress
led many Germans at home and at the front to booze it up and fill their
lungs with smoke; Proctor never explains sufficiently why a health-obsessed
totalitarian regime so seemingly effective in policing its citizenry allowed
its Volk to indulge in liquor and cigarettes. He only vaguely touches
on the complex nature of life under Nazism (explored by many scholars
during the past two decades) and ventures onto shaky ground when discussing
the relation of medical researchers to the greater society. Despite its
shortcomings, an important, instructive book that expands our knowledge
of the role medical researchers played in Hitler's Germany. (39 b&w
illustrations) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights
reserved.
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- Hardcover - 365 pages (May 1999) Princeton
Univ Pr; ISBN: 0691001960 ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.15 x 9.57 x 6.41
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 6,327
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- List Price: $29.95 Our Price: $20.97
You Save: $8.98 (30%)
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