Given the long odds of a bioterrorist attack, Clark asks, has the more than $40 billion the United States has dedicated to the defense against bioterrorism really been well spent? Is it time to move on to other priorities? In contrast to the alarmist fears stoked by the popular media, William Clark here provides a reassuring overview of what we really need to worry about-and what we don't.

1. Tales of a Dark Winter: A Play in Three Acts: What could happen in a bioterrorist smallpox attack
2. Three Wake-up calls (And Some Near Misses): Bioterrorist incidents in the US and elsewhere: Rajneeshees
Aum Shinrikyo
2001 postal anthrax attacks
Minnesota Patriots council
Larry Wayne Harris
3. Agents of Terror: The CDC list of bioterrorism pathogens (for anthrax, smallpox, plague, tularemia, botulism, Ebola). How they work, what we can do to protect ourselves
4. Genetically Modified Pathogens
5. The Ultimate Bioterrorist
Mother Nature!: 1918 influenza pandemic
SARS
H5N1
6. The Very Food on Your Plate (And the Water in Your Glass): Agroterrorism (livestock, crops)
protecting our water supply
7. America Reacts: The Anti-Terrorism Acts of 1989, 1996, and 2002
the Strategic National Stockpile
the Bioshield and Biowatch Programs
progress to date
the National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza
8. Political, Legal, and Social Issues in A National Health Emergency: Social, legal, and civil rights issues surrounding major catastrophic events
quarantine, mandatory vaccinations
the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act
9. The Politics of Bioterrorism in America
10. Assessing the Threat: Why virtually all bioterrorism attacks to date have failed
what it would take to succeed. Who could do it?