The use of primates in research is an ongoing controversy. We have all benefited from the medical discoveries, yet we have also learned more in recent years about the real intelligence of apes and monkeys. Activists have also uncovered cases of animal cruelty by researchers.

The Monkey Wars assesses the often caustic debate over the use of primates in scientific research, and examines the personalities and issues behind the headlines. The author focuses on researchers forced to conduct their work behind barbed wire and alarm systems, animal rights activists ranging from the moderate AWI Institute to the highly radical ALF, and some of the remarkable chimpanzees involved. The research community and its activist critics are invariably portrayed as rival camps locked in a long, bitter, and seemingly intractable political battle. In reality there are people on both sides willing to accept and work within the complex middle. Deborah Blum gives these people a voice