The Dirty Tricks Department: Stanley Lovell, the OSS, and the Masterminds of World War II Secret Warfare

· St. Martin's Press
5.0
1 review
Ebook
384
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About this ebook

John Lisle reveals the untold story of the OSS Research and Development Branch—The Dirty Tricks Department—and 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, 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.

Ratings and reviews

5.0
1 review
Nicole Dunton
June 17, 2023
Another highly educational book pertaining to WW2. There are so many things that I realize weren't taught in school. Books like these make me want to buy copies that I can read again to annotate and highlight for future references. I love learning about historical events. Especially with events that really aren't talked much about overall. This is a nonfiction novel. It's worth the read. Especially for any WW2 buff.
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About the author

JOHN LISLE is a historian of science and the American intelligence community. He earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of Texas and has taught courses on U.S. history, cyberspace, and information warfare at the University of Texas, Louisiana Tech University, and Austin Community College. His writing has appeared in Scientific American, Smithsonian magazine, Skeptic, Journal of Intelligence History, and Physics in Perspective. The Dirty Tricks Department is his first book.

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