
The Dirty Tricks Department
The Untold Story of the Real-life Q Branch, the Masterminds of Second World War Secret Warfare
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
The Dirty Tricks Department
The Untold Story of the Real-life Q Branch, the Masterminds of Second World War Secret Warfare
About this book
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.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title
- Copyright
- Contents
- 1. Donovan’s Dragoons
- 2. Professor Moriarty
- 3. The Sandeman Club
- 4. Division 19 Destruction
- 5. Kill or Be Killed
- 6. Psychological Warfare
- 7. Detachment 101
- 8. Target Heavy Water
- 9. Pursuit of the Mastodon
- 10. The Heisenberg Uncertainty
- 11. The Documents Division
- 12. The Camouflage Division
- 13. Undercover Missions
- 14. Biological Warfare
- 15. Chemical Warfare
- 16. Truth Drugs
- 17. Lovell’s Twilight
- 18. A Legacy of Lessons
- Appendix 1
- Appendix 2
- Acknowledgments
- References
- Notes