"Robert Proctor is an outstanding historian of science and an
outstanding historian of the Third Reich. By establishing Nazism's
pioneering contributions in the areas of preventive medicine,
environmentalism, and public health, he takes us right to the heart
of the most difficult questions in the analysis of fascism. His
treatment of smoking and cancer will be a revelation. This book
troubles the politics and ethics of historical interpretation in
the very best ways."--Geoff Eley, author of "Reshaping the German
Right: Radical Nationalism" and "Political Change after Bismarck"
"Racily and wittily written, Proctor's interesting book is a
brilliant demonstration of how marginal the Nazi past has become to
contemporary health issues. A conclusion long since obvious to the
former inhabitants of Bosnia or Rwanda, shot or hacked to death, in
the very long shadow of the Holocaust."--Michael Burleigh, author
of "Ethics and Extermination: Reflections on Nazi Genocide"
"A profound and provocative analysis of the very essence of
medical research and health policy. While Robert Proctor focuses on
cancer research in Nazi Germany, his book is a detailed examination
of the basic value system underlying medical research and public
health policy. This unsettling and fascinating account is a 'must
read' for every medical scientist."--William E. Seidelman, M.D.,
University of Toronto
"This book is a major contribution to the history of science and
medicine in the Nazi era. Nazism emerges as a kind of vast hygienic
experiment that tried to create an exclusionist utopia, by using
both 'good science' and laudable health drives, along with
murderous practices aimed at the Jews and others deemed to
be'unworthy of life.' The book should be of interest to anyone
concerned about the ethical, political, and social implications of
modern science."--Robert Gellately, author of "The Gestapo and
German Society: Enforcing Racial Policy"
"Robert Proctor has once again produced a brilliant volume that
will both fascinate and infuriate readers.... Just as he did in his
previous book "Racial Hygiene" Proctor's analysis tears at the very
fabric of our belief that good science is moral science. ...This
book will force all of us to sit up and think about the
consequences of our actions and our moral responsibilities to
account for just what we are doing in the name of scientific
neutrality and objectivity."--David Rosner, author of "Deadly Dust:
Silicosis and the Politics of Occupational Disease in Twentieth
Century America"
"Professor Proctor has written a compelling and wonderfully
readable account of how Nazi physicians confronted cancer.
Sophisticated research went with racial megalomania, as German
researchers targeted diet, occupation, smoking, and radium as
cancer-inducing. Understanding the Nazi politics of medical
research and disease eradication is both haunting and instructive
for modern efforts to overcome cancer."--Paul Weindling, author of
"Health, Race and German Politics between National Unification and
Nazism, 1870-1945"
"Proctor's book should fundamentally alter the way we view
science under the swastika. Without minimizing either the crimes of
the Nazi regime or the complexity of its internal politics, Proctor
shows that National Socialist health initiatives ran the entire
spectrum from barbaric to benign. This should be essential reading,
not just for historians of scienceand medicine, but for anyone
interested in the history of the Third Reich."--Diane Paul, author
of "Controlling Human Heredity: 1865 to the Present" and "The
Politics of Heredity: Essays on Eugenics, Biomedicine, and the
Nature-Nurture Debate"
"A fascinating account of medical and public-health ideas and
policies in Nazi Germany. Its ironic emphasis on the--in
retrospect--'rational' aspects of Hitler-era attitudes toward
environmental contaminants, tobacco, and diet underlines the
complex and contingent relationships among medicine, ideology,
science, and policy."--Charles Rosenberg, author of "Explaining
Epidemics"
"Lively prose and clear organization make this a wonderful book.
"The Nazi War on Cancer" makes a major contribution to the field of
Nazi history, with its attention to 'progressive' concerns within
repressive and racialized settings. Rather than 'normalizing' evil,
Proctor refines it in his sustained discussions of the ethical
paradoxes he has encountered in his research."--Claudia Koonz, Duke
University
"This book is interesting, informative, original,
well-researched and well-written, and critical yet balanced in its
judgments. It breaks new ground, and should attract considerable
interest among and beyond historians of science, medicine, and
National Socialism."--Mark Walker, Union College
"This book is interesting, informative, original,
well-researched and well-written, and critical yet balanced in its
judgments. It should attract considerable interest among and beyond
historians of science, medicine, and National Socialism."--Mark
Walker, author of "German National Socialism" and the "Quest for
Nuclear Power, 1939-1949 and Nazi Science"