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The great secret : the classified World War II disaster that launched the war on cancer Cover Image

The great secret : the classified World War II disaster that launched the war on cancer / Jennet Conant.

Conant, Jennet, (author.).

Summary:

"The gripping story of a chemical weapons catastrophe, its cover-up, and how one army doctor's discovery led to the development of chemotherapy. On the night of December 2, 1943, the Luftwaffe bombed a critical Allied port in Bari, Italy, sinking seventeen ships and killing over a thousand servicemen and hundreds of civilians. Caught in the surprise air raid was the John Harvey, an American Liberty ship carrying a top-secret cargo of 2,000 mustard bombs to be used in retaliation if the Germans resorted togas warfare. After young sailors began suddenly dying with mysterious symptoms, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Alexander, a doctor and chemical weapons expert, was dispatched to investigate. He quickly diagnosed mustard gas exposure, which both Churchill andEisenhower denied. But Alexander's breakthrough observations about the toxic effects of mustard on white blood cells, as well as the heroic perseverance of Colonel Cornelius P. Rhoads-a researcher and doctor as brilliant as he was arrogant and self-destructive- were instrumental in ushering in a new era of cancer research led by the Sloan Kettering Institute. The Great Secret is a remarkable story of how horrific tragedy gave birth to medical triumph."-- Provided by publisher.

Record details

ISBN: 1324002506
ISBN: 9781324002505
Physical Description: xviii, 380 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2020]
Copyright: ©2020

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 362-365) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	"Little Pearl Harbor" -- "A regiment of wizards" -- "The die is cast" -- "Angels in long underwear" -- "Journey into the nightmare" -- "A special affinity" -- "Recommendation to secrecy" -- "Magnum opus" -- "Forgotten front" -- "A riddle wrapped in a mystery" -- "Frontal attack" -- Trails and tribulations -- "The sword and the ploughshare" -- Belated justice.