Books for our times
Archived article from Dec 14, 2001
For gift-giving this holiday season, Focus asked members of the Rutgers community to suggest books that might help make sense of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the anthrax scare and the current conflicts in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Here are their recommendations.
Ren-Raw Chen, associate professor of finance, New Brunswick
"The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II" by Iris Chang (Basic Books, 1997) --I recommended this one-time New York Times best seller based upon the diary of a German who witnessed the massacre of the people of Nanking by the Japanese in World War II. There are also pictures (quite graphic, not suitable for children) of the massacre. It's an excellent book on trauma and terrorism.
Leonard A. Cole, adjunct professor of political science, Newark
"Germs: Biological Weapons and America's Secret War" by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad (Simon and Schuster, 2001) --An up-to-date assessment of the likelihood that biological weapons will be used, and the havoc they could create. Good review of the Iraqi and Soviet biological programs.
"The Plague Makers" by Wendy Barnaby (Vision Paperbacks, 1999) --Discussion of the dangers of biological weapons, with emphasis on the former British biological program.
"The Ultimate Terrorists" by Jessica Stern (Harvard University Press, 1999) --A dispassionate assessment of the potential for terrorists to use weapons of mass destruction.
Avigdor Gal, assistant professor of management science, New Brunswick
"Diplomacy" by Henry Kissinger (Touchstone Books, 1995) --This book is a good source for understanding Western diplomacy in the past 300 years and, in particular, the U.S. involvement in it, the ideological roots of American diplomacy, etc. One thing the book discusses is the legitimacy of inflicting war on a country due to the policy of its leaders.
Alan Gilchrist, professor of psychology, Newark
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