Chemical Warfare, Chemical Disarmament (review)

BOOK REVIEWS Mark Engman, editor Adams, Valerie, Chemical Warfare, Chemical Disarmament .......... 248 Adelman, Kenneth L., The Great Universal Embrace: Arms Control Summitry—A Skeptic's Account ................... 248 Aslund, Anders, Gorbachev's Struggle for Economic Reform ........... 250 Berry, William E., Jr., U.S. Bases in the Philippines: The Evolution ofa Special Relationship ....................... 252 Chayes, Antonia H. and Paul Doty, eds., Defending Deterrence: Managing the ABM Treaty Regime Into the 21st Century .......... 253 Cooperation for International Development: The United States and the Third World in the 1990s ............................ 254 Domínguez, Jorge I., To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba's Foreign Policy ..................................... 255 Eichenberg, Richard C, Public Opinion and National Security in Western Europe ........................................ 256 Hanrieder, Wolfram F., Germany, America, Europe: Forty Years of German Foreign Policy ......................... 257 Harding, Harry and Yuan Ming, eds., Sino-American Relations, 1945-1955: A Joint Reassessment of a Critical Decade ............ 259 Katz, Barry M., Foreign Intelligence: Research and Analysis in the Office ofStrategic Services, 1942-1945 ................... 261 LeBoutillier, John, Vietnam Now: A Case for Normalizing Relations with Hanoi ................... 263 Lehman, John F., Command of the Seas ......................... 264 Medvedev, Roy A., Let History Judge: The Origins and Consequences of Stalinism .............................. 265 Nitze, Paul with Ann M. Smith and Steven L. Rearden, From Hiroshima to Glasnost: At the Center of Decision—A Memoir ....... 267 Olsen, Edward A., U.S. Policy and the Two Koreas ................. 269 Scott, John, Behind the Urals: An American Worker in Russia's City ofSteel .................................... 270 247 248 SAISREVIEW Chemical Warfare, Chemical Disarmament. By Valerie Adams. Bloomington , Ind.: Indiana University Press, 1990. 276 pp. $29.95/cloth. Reviewed by Ricky Aberle, M.A. Candidate, SAIS. The Soviet Union and the United States are dramatically revising their military postures in Europe and around the world in a climate of reduced threat. It was within this climate that the treaty on Intermediate Nuclear Forces was negotiated, with its sweeping elimination of an entire category of weapons and its highly intrusive verification regime. Hopefully, this climate will breathe new life into negotiations on chemical weapons, which in the past have been frustrated by verification concerns. For those studying chemical weapons, Chemical Warfare, Chemical Disarmament is an excellent text. Valerie Adams has produced one of the most comprehensive books available on the subject. The extensive up-to-date bibliography provides a useful reference guide for further research. Adams begins by defining chemical warfare and clearly explaining the functions and classifications ofvarious chemical agents. Her conversational style allows her to flesh out drier topics while holding the reader's interest. The approach is casual and informative, and provides data in an organized, comprehensible fashion. Adams divides her book into consumable sections covering the history of chemical weapon use from Ypres to Iraq, superpower perspectives, and a chronology of arms control negotiations. On controversial issues such as Agent Orange and yellow rain, Adams delivers the facts, allegations and statements from all parties involved and lets the reader decide. Her personal accounts help liven the narrative. She presents the long history ofchemical arms negotiations chronologically, highlighting the salient issues and decisions. This approach gives readers a basic grasp ofthe negotiations process without engulfing them in a quagmire of detail. Adams avoids moral issues till the end of the work, where she addresses whether chemical weapons should be banned, the political implications of weapons production, and the threat of chemical proliferation. The balanced, factual treatment gives the work its unbiased quality, and readers arrive at this final chapter well-versed enough in the history and effects of chemical weapons to judge these issues for themselves. The Great Universal Embrace: Arms Control Summitry—A Skeptic's Account. By Kenneth L. Adelman. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1989. 366 pp. $19.95/cloth. Reviewed by Bill Mikhail, Center for Strategic and International Studies. U.S.-Soviet summits, says Kenneth Adelman, lead to better relations "in sentimental ways, by warming the atmosphere." In The Great Universal ...