Get Free Shipping on orders over $79
The Cure : A Story of Cancer and Politics from the Annals of the Cold War - Nikolai Krementsov

The Cure

A Story of Cancer and Politics from the Annals of the Cold War

By: Nikolai Krementsov

Hardcover | 15 April 2002 | Edition Number 1

At a Glance

Hardcover


$88.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $22.19 with

 or 

Ships in 5 to 10 business days

Did America try to steal Soviet "cancer secrets"? And how could a cancer cure turn into a "biological atomic bomb"? Nikolai Krementsov's compelling tale of cancer and politics is the story of a husband-and-wife team who developed a promising anticancer treatment in Stalin's Russia, only to see their discovery entangled in Cold War rivalries, ideological conflict, and scientific turf wars.

In 1946, Nina Kliueva and Grigorii Roskin announced the discovery of a preparation able to "dissolve" tumors in mice. Preliminary clinical trials suggested that KR, named after its developers, might work in humans as well. Media hype surrounding KR prompted the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union to seek U.S.-Soviet cooperation in perfecting the possible cure. But the escalating Cold War gave this American interest a double edge. Though it helped Kliueva and Roskin solicit impressive research support from the Soviet leadership, including Stalin, it also thrust the couple into the center of an ideological confrontation between the superpowers. Accused of divulging "state secrets" to America, the couple were put on a show trial, and their "antipatriotic sins" were condemned in Soviet stage and film productions.

Parlaying their notoriety into increased funding, Kliueva and Roskin continued their research, but envious colleagues discredited their work and took over their institute. For years, work on KR languished and ceased entirely with the deaths of Kliueva and Roskin. But recently, the Russian press reported that work on KR has begun again, reopening this illuminating story of the intersection among Cold War politics, personal ideals, and biomedical research.

Industry Reviews
"A fascinating and seductively accessible account of medical science in Stalin's Russia, of the quest for a cure for cancer in the context of Cold War ideology, bureaucratic infighting, and disciplinary rivalries." - Charles Rosenberg, Harvard University

More in Medicine in General

Kaplan and Sadock's Comprehensive Textbook of Psychiatry : 11th Edition - Robert Boland
Celiac Disease For Dummies : 2nd Edition - Benjamin Lebwohl
Netter's Anatomy Coloring Book : 3rd edition - John T. Hansen

RRP $39.95

$33.75

16%
OFF
Havard's Nursing Guide to Drugs : 11th Edition - Adriana Tiziani

RRP $101.95

$83.99

18%
OFF
Grant's Atlas of Anatomy : 16th Edition - Agur & Dalley

RRP $197.75

$94.75

52%
OFF
How To Change Your Mind : New Science of Psychedelics - Michael Pollan
Dopamine Nation : Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence - Anna Lembke