Carrol mentions Timpanero. Martin Jay in, "Marxism and Totality, " from U.C. Press has some comments on Timpanero, Colletti and Della Volpe.
Colletti, sad to say, ended up in Berlosconi's party. Died last yr. His volumes that Monthly Review Press translated in the 70's are well worth perusing, though. Michael Pugliese P.S. Science in the fSU see, "The Perversion of Knowledge: The True Story of Soviet Science In Stock:Ships within 24 hours . Vadim J. Birstein / Hardcover / Westview Press / October 2001 Our Price: $26.00, You Save 20%
From the Publisher A powerful account of the KGB, an agency without moral scruples, and their control over Soviet science and society. During the Soviet years, Russian science was touted as one of the greatest successes of the regime. Russian science was considered to be equal, if not superior, to that of the wealthy western nations. Perversion of Knowledge, a history of Soviet science that focuses on its control by the KGB and the Communist Party, reveals the dark side of this glittering achievement. Based on the author's firsthand experience as a Soviet scientist, and drawing on extensive Russian language sources not easily available to the Western reader, the book includes shocking new information on biomedical experimentation on humans as well as an examination of the pernicious effects of Trofim Lysenko's pseudo—biology. Also included are many poignant case histories of those who collaborated and those who managed to resist, focusing on the moral choices and consequences. The text is accompanied by the author's own translations of key archival materials, making this work an essential resource for all those with a serious interest in Russian history.
Author Biography: Vadim J. Birstein, Ph.D., a Russian—American geneticist and historian, is the author of more than 140 scientific papers and monographs. A member of the Russian Academy of Science for over twenty years, he was a dissident who experienced the cruelty of the Soviet regime's control of science firsthand. He lives in New York City.
From the Critics
>From Amy Knight
Vadim Birstein has provided crucial new insight into the question
of biomedical experimentation on humans during the Soviet period.
The involvement of Soviet scientists in these experiments from
the 1930s onward reveals starkly how sinister and repressive
the Soviet regime was, even in comparison with the Nazis regime.
Although a great deal has been written about the participation
of German and Japanese scientists in experiments on humans, little
attention has been devoted to the same phenomenon in the Soviet
Union, which lasted well beyond the war period. Birstein's work
fills a deep gap in our historical knowledge of this subject.
>From George J. Annas
This meticulously documented historical record of the Soviet
Secret Police and KGB will serve as a powerful reminder that
human beings must never be used as means to an end. It is only
through such public exposure and continual vigilance that society
can enforce and protect the human rights and dignity of all persons.
>From Miltoni Leitenberg
The 20th century witnessed several examples of absolutist states
wedded to ideological doctrines, in which a limited number of
individuals willing to serve a regime backed by state terror
produced massive transgressions against humanity and civilization.
This occurred in Nazi Germany, in the USSR, and in China. It
produced genocide, massive state-organized starvation and individual
state-organizes murder and torture. In hese cases, it also besmirched
the scientific and professional elites in that country. Dr. Birstein's
study, based on extensive Russian-language sources not easily
available to the Western reader, documents the compromise and
corruption of the disciplines of science and medicine in the
USSR, just as the entire society was corrupted in the name of
a fictitious ideal.
>From Michael Golubovsky
This book is an important contribution to the history of Soviet
science and to the understanding of its merger with the KGB activity.
The book is important for all discussions of the moral responsibility
of science both at present and in the future.
>From Publishers Weekly
Russian-American geneticist and historian Birstein's first trade
book is the story of "the state control of science in the Soviet
Union." A comprehensive history of how Russian scientists were
ruled by their government from the Bolshevik revolution through
its post-perestroika present, the volume focuses especially on
doctors who conducted state-authorized experiments on political
prisoners while developing poisons and chemical weaponry that
were eventually used in a rash of political assassinations during
the 1950s and '60s by way of covert weapons such as umbrella
tips and poisoned bullets. But very little of this material reads
like an Ian Fleming novel; it's more like a college textbook.
With over 100 pages of notes, biographical sketches and translated
materials, the text is so finely detailed that it runs the risk
of confusing readers with its sheer volume of information. Moreover,
most of the original documents Birstein relies upon are still
classified and "these documents are... frequently written in
a special metaphoric language used by NKVD/KGB offices. Only
since 1997 have three fundamental reference books been published
in Russian that have allowed me to put the events in Soviet science
into historical context." These shortcomings are unfortunate,
as the subject of state secrecy and chemical weapons development
is both important and timely. In uncovering the Soviet labyrinth
of plot and secrecy, Birstein builds labyrinths of his own and
casual readers might not be willing to wind their way through
to the end. (Dec.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Biohazard: The Chilling True Story of the Largest Covert Biological Weapons Program in the World Told from inside by the Man Who Ken W. Alibek Stephen Handelman
Synopsis For two decades, an elite team of Russian bioweaponeers secretly cultivated biological weapons that cause anthrax, smallpox, and Ebola- related fevers. The author, a former leader of Russia's germ warfare effort, provides an insider's account of tests and leaks, lab accidents and deadly disasters, KGB threats, and assassinations. The author joined Biopreparat in 1975 and was deputy chief of the agency from 1988 to 1992. Since he defected to the US in 1992, he has briefed US military intelligence and is now working in biodefense. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR