Reading this book is like eating cashews, proclaimed one reviewer. Once you start, you cant stop. A must read for students of political-military history, C-C-Cold War Syndrome is a collection of 43 non-fiction short stories from award-winning author G.H. Spaulding. They weave a fascinating account of the human and humorous side of the Cold War. While not a single shot is fired between the covers of this book, there is just enough tragic irony interspersed among the laughs to keep things in perspective as the United States and Soviet Union engage in historys epic superpower confrontation. An entertaining global journey that includes forays into naval aviation when things dont always go according to Hoyle and unforgettable glimpses behind the scenes at the White House, at the Pentagon and at the historic American-Soviet arms talks in Geneva. Meet some of the Cold War victors...Booker, Moon, Foggy Bob, Blotto, Snake, Beaver, Jay Beasley, Fawn Hall, The Purple People Eater, Dracula and Flash Gordon. And some of the losers...head Soviet Nikita Khrushchev and KGB agent Sergei Kryuchkov. Then experience the demise of the Soviet Union through the eyes of senior Soviet army colonel Anatoli Yurchenko. Two of the stories in this collection...Dilbert Dunker and KGB...are national award winners.

Newlyweds honeymooning in Cairo stumble into a hornet’s nest of American-Chinese political intrigue. Nicolas McCayne, who once served as U.S. Naval Attaché to Egypt, is now an associate professor of international relations at Denver University. His capriciously adventurous bride Laura is a successful Denver trial attorney. Things take an unexpected turn for the couple in Cairo during a diplomatic reception for Tsun Ziyang, a man the CIA believes is plotting to become China’s next president. Sparks fly as Nick and Tsun argue the politics of Tiananmen Square and further intensify after Tsun and the McCaynes embark on the same five-day Nile cruise. Aboard ship Tsun’s tiny red notebook falls into Laura’s hands. Chinese and Egyptian thugs working for Tsun commit murder while trying to recover it. Convinced the notebook contains crucial intelligence information, the newlyweds risk death attempting to get it into the right hands. They are aided by a mysterious stranger, British soldier of fortune Michael Hastings. Together they flee the killers in a desperate race through the Sahara to Alexandria where they face a nail-biting midnight escape from Egypt by boat. Matters conclude in Washington with a surprising twist that reveals how Chinese takeout can be murder.

From September 1990 to June 1991, the UK deployed 53,462 military personnel in the Gulf War. After the end of the conflict anecdotal reports of various disorders affecting troops who fought in the Gulf began to surface. This mysterious illness was given the name “Gulf War Syndrome” (GWS). This book is an investigation into this recently emergent illness, particularly relevant given ongoing UK deployments to Iraq, describing how the illness became a potent symbol for a plethora of issues, anxieties, and concerns. At present, the debate about GWS is polarized along two lines: there are those who think it is a unique, organic condition caused by Gulf War toxins and those who argue that it is probably a psychological condition that can be seen as part of a larger group of illnesses. Using the methods and perspective of anthropology, with its focus on nuances and subtleties, the author provides a new approach to understanding GWS, one that makes sense of the cultural circumstances, specific and general, which gave rise to the illness.

It is one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science: the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a “sonic weapon” that led to a major diplomatic row. Since August 2017, the world media has been absorbed in the “attack” on diplomats from the American and Canadian Embassies in Cuba. While physicians treating victims have described it as a novel and perplexing condition that involves an array of complaints including brain damage, the authors present compelling evidence that mass psychogenic illness was the cause of “Havana Syndrome.” This mysterious condition that has baffled experts is explored across 11-chapters which offer insights by a prominent neurologist and an expert on psychogenic illness. A lively and enthralling read, the authors explore the history of similar scares from the 18th century belief that sounds from certain musical instruments were harmful to human health, to 19th century cases of “telephone shock,” and more contemporary panics involving people living near wind turbines that have been tied to a variety of health complaints. The authors provide dozens of examples of kindred episodes of mass hysteria throughout history, in addition to psychosomatic conditions and even the role of insects in triggering outbreaks. Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria is a scientific detective story and a case study in the social construction of mass psychogenic illness.

Richard Bartle and Lindy Heinecken are acknowledged experts in this area and they bring together a contemporary collection of papers from leading authorities in 12 countries.

Presents the proceedings of the Jan. 1997 hearing to examine new studies suggesting links between Gulf service and higher rates of illnesses. Includes witness testimony and prepared statements from a number of medical researchers and practitioners (Harvard Medical School, Univ. of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Univ. of Iowa Medical College), Gulf War veterans, Defense Dept. representatives, and members of Congress. Also contains a treatment protocol of a biopsychological therapeutic approach for the treatment of multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome in veterans of Desert Storm. Charts and tables.