American Anthrax

Guillemin (Ctr. for International Studies, MIT; Anthrax: The Investigation of a Deadly Outbreak) offers a detailed look at the seven-year investigation of the deadly anthrax-laced letters that killed five people shortly after 9/11. Like David Willman's just published The Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks, and America's Rush to War, Guillemin presents a thorough account of the massive FBI investigation that bungled its way through several suspects until finally settling on Bruce Ivins of the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Frederick, MD. Ivins committed suicide before he could be prosecuted; Willman is more convinced than Guillemin of his guilt. Willman focuses on Ivins, with a great deal more on his past—information that appears highly relevant but is absent from Guillemin's book. But Guillemin shows that the evidence, while strong, is circumstantial and notes that Ivins did pass a polygraph test.