In the summer of 1942, Stanley Lovell, a renowned industrial chemist, received a mysterious order to report to an unfamiliar building in Washington, D.C. 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 Office of Strategic Services (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 staff... I think you're it.'

Following this life-changing 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.

About the Author
John Lisle is a history professor at Louisiana Tech University where he teaches courses on secret warfare. His writing on the D Branch, the intelligence community, and the history of science has appeared in Smithsonian Magazine, Scientific American, Military History (forthcoming), Skeptic, The Journal of Intelligence History, and Physics in Perspective.

Reviews
The Dirty Tricks Department is a fascinating tale vividly told, full of sabotage and skulduggery, deviousness and invention, and populated by a cast of remarkable characters. James Bond meets Sherlock Holmes - but in deadly serious real life. -- H.W. Brands * New York Times bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize finalists Traitor to His Class and The First American *



Book Information
ISBN 9781803992648
Author John Lisle
Format Hardback
Page Count 360
Imprint The History Press Ltd
Publisher The History Press Ltd