The Great Secret : The Classified World War II Disaster that Launched the War on Cancer Paperback / softback
by Jennet Conant
Paperback / softback
Description
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 to gas 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 Churchill denied.
Undaunted, Alexander defied British officials and persevered with his investigation.
His final report on the Bari casualties was immediately classified, but not before his breakthrough observations about the toxic effects of mustard on white blood cells caught the attention of Colonel Cornelius P.
Rhoads - a pioneering physician and research scientist as brilliant as he was arrogant and self-destructive - who recognized that the poison was both a killer and a cure, and ushered in a new era of cancer research. Deeply researched and beautifully written, The Great Secret is the remarkable story of how horrific tragedy gave birth to medical triumph.
Information
-
Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:400 pages, 8pp b&w insert
- Publisher:Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
- Publication Date:07/10/2021
- Category:
- ISBN:9781611854541
Other Formats
- Hardback from £17.59
£10.99
£10.95
Information
-
Only a few left - usually despatched within 24 hours
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:400 pages, 8pp b&w insert
- Publisher:Grove Press / Atlantic Monthly Press
- Publication Date:07/10/2021
- Category:
- ISBN:9781611854541
