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Against Their Will: The Secret History Of Medical Experimentation On Children In Cold War America (2013)

by Allen Hornblum(Favorite Author)

3.51 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0230341713 (ISBN13: 9780230341715)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Palgrave Macmillan Trade

review 1: One of the most disturbing books I have ever read. I knew about unethical psychological studies, the Tuskegee airmen 'experiments' and the forced sterilization programs targeting the poor in the south, but I had no idea about the experiments done on institutionalized children, pregnant mothers, radiation studies on infants, cruel studies on those with cerebral palsy... The litany of horrors presented here are well researched and thoroughly horrifying; on par with Japan's Project 731 and Nazi medical experiments, which were of course viewed as the horrors they were. All the while, we were doing experiments just as horrific on children, infants, mothers, the illiterate, and those deemed by the eugenicist movement as being "defectives," euphemistically called "research mate... morerial." A sordid chapter in American history that should be required reading, instead of hidden away so as to detract from our jingoistic 'history' taught in schools. I docked it a star because quite a bit of the research happened before the Cold War, as the title suggests, but a good deal did take place during that era, which is disturbing enough in itself.
review 2: Sadly, a terrible but necessary subject to discuss in America's recent past. I naively thought most of these atrocities happened in Europe during the Nazi regime, but unfortunately that is not the case. In fact, despite the creation and knowledge of the Nuremberg Code, many physicians felt that such restrictions did not apply to them or their research. Granted, the Cold War mentality is significantly to blame for many of these failures, as is an under-appreciation of handicapped human life, but many of the lives ruined by these experiments on institutionalized children could have been saved had ANYONE in the medical profession spoken up against their abuse. (Or supported those children who tried desperately to escape.) Tragic beyond measure, this book will enlighten you to another dark chapter of America's past. Fortunately, personal accounts are sparse, allowing the reader to detach from the horror just enough to process its impact without being truly overwhelmed. less

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