Description

In this oddly entertaining audiobook narrator Pete Cross takes listeners through the many experiments and devices created by the RampD branch of the Office of Strategic Services OSS during WWII Listeners will be both transfixed and horrified by the decisions weighed and taken AudioFile Magazine

John Lisle reveals the untold story of the OSS Research and Development BranchThe Dirty Tricks Departmentand its role in World War II

In the summer of 1942 Stanley Lovell a renowned industrial chemist received a mysterious order to report to an unfamiliar building in Washington DC When he arrived he was led to a barren room where he waited to meet the man who had summoned him After a disconcerting amount of time William Wild Bill Donovan the head of the OSS walked in the door You know your Sherlock Holmes of course Donovan said as an introduction Professor Moriarty is the man I want for my staffI think youre it

Following this lifechanging encounter Lovell became the head of a secret group of scientists who developed dirty tricks for the OSS the precursor to the CIA Their inventions included bat bombs suicide pills fighting knives silent pistols and camouflaged explosives Moreover they forged documents for undercover agents plotted the assassination of foreign leaders and performed truth drug experiments on unsuspecting subjects

Based on extensive archival research and personal interviews The Dirty Tricks Department tells the story of these scheming scientists explores the moral dilemmas that they faced and reveals their dark legacy of directly inspiring the most infamous program in CIA history MKULTRA

A Macmillan Audio production from St Martins Press