Monkey Wars

Originally published in the United Kingdom by Walker in 2013.

The controversy over the use of primates in research admits of no easy answers. We have all benefited from the medical discoveries of primate research--vaccines for polio, rubella, and hepatitis B are just a few. But we have also learned more in recent years about how intelligent apes and monkeys really are: they can speak to us with sign language, they can even play video games (and are as obsessed with the games as any human teenager). And activists have also uncovered widespread and unnecessarily callous treatment of animals by researchers (in 1982, a Silver Spring lab was charged with 17 counts of animal cruelty). It is a complex issue, made more difficult by the combative stance of both researchers and animal activists. In The Monkey Wars, Deborah Blum gives a human face to this often caustic debate--and an all-but-human face to the subjects of the struggle, the chimpanzees and monkeys themselves. Blum criss-crosses America to show us first hand the issues and personalities involved. She offers a wide-ranging, informative look at animal rights activists, now numbering some twelve million, from the moderate Animal Welfare Institute to the highly radical Animal Liberation Front (a group destructive enough to be placed on the FBI's terrorist list). And she interviews a wide variety of researchers, many forced to conduct their work protected by barbed wire and alarm systems, men and women for whom death threats and hate mail are common. She takes us to Roger Fouts's research center in Ellensburg, Washington, where we meet five chimpanzees trained in human sign language, and we visit LEMSIP, a research facility in New York State that has no barbed wire, no alarms--and no protesters chanting outside--because its director, Jan Moor-Jankowski, listens to activists with respect and treats his animals humanely. And along the way, Blum offers us insights into the many side-issues involved: the intense battle to win over school kids fought by both sides, and the danger of transplanting animal organs into humans. "As it stands now," Blum concludes, "the research community and its activist critics are like two different nations, nations locked in a long, bitter, seemingly intractable political standoff....But if you listen hard, there really are people on both sides willing to accept and work within the complex middle. When they can be freely heard, then we will have progressed to another place, beyond this time of hostilities." In The Monkey Wars, Deborah Blum gives these people their voice.

“Strikingly original” is how Anthony Horowitz, author of the Alex Rider series, describes Monkey Wars. “Kurti draws from history to deliver a powerful allegory . . . [and] keeps this effective, memorable tale rooted in reality.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred Review Sustain the weak. Destroy the strong. A dark fable in the vein of Animal Farm, Watership Down, and The Wave, this action-packed page-turner is told entirely from the monkeys’ points of view and shines a light on the politics of power, the rise of tyrants, and the personal dilemmas that must be faced when your life is on the line. When rhesus monkeys are brutally massacred on the dusty streets of Kolkata by a troop of power-hungry langur monkeys, Mico, a privileged langur, becomes entangled in the secrets at the heart of his troop’s leadership and is shocked at what he discovers. He feels compelled to help the few surviving rhesus, especially Papina, a young female he befriends, even though doing so goes against everything he’s been taught. As more blood is spilled, Mico realizes that choosing between right and wrong won’t be easy. Includes a note from the author, as well as interesting monkey species facts. Additional praise for MONKEY WARS “The allure of power—even for the most conscientious—is portrayed with frightening effectiveness. Powerful.”—Kirkus Reviews “An imaginative fable about the nature of power and the responsibility of the individual. With plenty of action . . . a fascinating epilogue . . . [and] striking cover art.” —Booklist “Following in the tradition of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, war and politics shape the lives of several monkey troops. An interesting premise that will provide readers with an introduction to fascism and political corruption.” —School Library Journal

This book, through intriguing experiments and stories, examines the biological, psychological, societal and political triggers of war.

Decades later, starting in the 1980s, Japanese cultural primatology was given a second look as Euro-American primatologists began to debate amongst themselves the question of whether Homo sapiens is the only cultural animal. In the most recent chapter of this controversy, field researchers such as the Swiss primatologist Christophe Boesch have accused experimental psychologists such as Michael Tomasello of underestimating and even denying the capacity of chimpanzees for culture because they limit their studies to captive animals, brought up under cognitively debilitating conditions and tested in laboratory settings bound to favor human test subjects with whom the animals are compared. These controversies raise serious questions about what sort of laboratory culture is best for the study of primate cognition. .

From debut author Nina Varela comes the first book in a richly imagined epic fantasy duology about an impossible love between two girls—one human, one Made—whose romance could be the beginning of a revolution. Perfect for fans of Marie Rutkoski’s The Winner’s Curse as well as Game of Thrones and Westworld. After the War of Kinds ravaged the kingdom of Rabu, the Automae, designed to be the playthings of royals, usurped their owners’ estates and bent the human race to their will. Now Ayla, a human servant rising in the ranks at the House of the Sovereign, dreams of avenging her family’s death…by killing the sovereign’s daughter, Lady Crier. Crier was Made to be beautiful, flawless, and to carry on her father’s legacy. But that was before her betrothal to the enigmatic Scyre Kinok, before she discovered her father isn’t the benevolent king she once admired, and most importantly, before she met Ayla. Now, with growing human unrest across the land, pressures from a foreign queen, and an evil new leader on the rise, Crier and Ayla find there may be only one path to love: war.

Collects Marvel's Spider-Man: City At War #1-6. Experience the amazing adventures of MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN! Showered with worldwide acclaim, the blockbuster game has everyone's spider-sense buzzing! Now, relive the emotional and shock-filled story that spins favorite characters, including Mary Jane, Aunt May, Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius and Miles Morales, into an all-new and unexpected web of drama, spectacle and classic Spidey action in the Mighty Marvel Manner! After years of seeing Wilson Fisk escape criminal prosecution, the wisecracking web-slinger finally has the opportunity to team with the NYPD to help arrest his fearsome foe. But how will the mysterious Mister Negative's ascent to power bring Peter Parker's civilian life and Spider-Man's superhuman world crashing together? Includes all-new story moments never seen in the game - and bonus behind-the-scenes content!

Woodward shows Obama making the critical decisions on the Afghanistan War, the secret war in Pakistan and the worldwide fight against terrorism.