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A Higher Form of Killing
The secret story of chemical and biological warfare.A Higher Form of Killing was first published to great acclaim in 1982. The authors have written a new Introduction and a new Epilogue to take account of the events that have happened since the early 1980s - including the break-up of the former Soviet Union and the black market that appeared in chemical and biological weapons, the acquisition of these weapons by various Third World states, the attempts of various countries like Iraq to build up arsenals of these weapons and, most recently, the use of these weapons in terrorist attacks. As the authors point out, the two generations since the Second World War lived with the threat of nuclear annihilation. Now a new generation must learn to live with weapons that are more insidious and potentially more devastating.
451 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1982
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999 people want to read
About the author
Robert Harris
68 books8,757 followersROBERT HARRIS is the author of nine best-selling novels: Fatherland, Enigma, Archangel, Pompeii, Imperium, The Ghost Writer, Conspirata, The Fear Index, and An Officer and a Spy. Several of his books have been adapted to film, most recently The Ghost Writer, directed by Roman Polanski. His work has been translated into thirty-seven languages. He lives in the village of Kintbury, England, with his wife, Gill Hornby.
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March 26, 2018
The consequences of "natural" epidemics have been burned into the collective memory. Now imagine artificial plagues.
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
It began with pest corpses catapulted into besieged cities, contaminated wells and gifted blankets. The history of biological warfare is ancient. And with the help of technology, their potential for a wildfire is fully developed.
Thus, the genome of the causative agent of the Spanish flu was recovered from exhumed corpses, decrypted, rebuilt and brought back to life. Incidentally, it is related to the ordinary flu. This is in contrast to the targeted panic about bird and swine flu. Extinct smallpox still exists in laboratories of the Russians and Americans. For research purposes, because of the defensive biological warfare and because of the prevention and deterrence idea. So it is a good thing that the Americans unilaterally canceled some parts of the biological weapons convention, have already registered some patents and intensified their research in this area again.
Several properties make mushrooms, bacteria, and viruses interesting for researchers. Among other things, high infection rates with long incubation times, survival outside of a host, insensitivity to weather influences and, in particular, the mortality rate are in demand. The more percent, the better.
Every illness has its advantages and disadvantages in this regard. Although hemorrhagic fevers are among the absolute leaders regarding lethality with up to 90 percent, they are highly contagious due to droplet infection. However, they survive only very briefly in the open air and do not tolerate cold at all.
The plague is psychologically highly efficient but loses its horror due to its excellent treatability with antibiotics.
At this point, biochemistry and genetic engineering come on the scene. Because it can iron out annoying Achilles heels such as lack of resistance to UV radiation, weather conditions, and antibiotics as well as low risk of infection with the conveniences of modern technology. There is intensive research in this area. Well-known examples are the ebolapox, on which the Russians allegedly worked, UV-resistant germs or chimeras from antibiotic-resistant hospital germs and plague. One only has to look at all abilities and transmission paths of known pathogens and come up with a combination of wishes. With the advancement of research and technology, numerous varieties will be opened the door. As not only new artificial life forms are produced, but also with previously unknown, unique germs experiments are made. For example, from the undeveloped rainforests or from thawing permafrost soils. These will increase the range of possible variations even further.
Ethnic weapons are specializations in the genetic characteristics to fit a particular population group. Based on the fact that lactose intolerance and other peculiarities that occur almost only on individual continents and in their population, common genetic characteristics such as lactose tolerance or immunity to malaria can be used as the target. This will make it possible to individually create these tailored diseases, against which other peoples are immune. One can go into more detail and expand or contract the target group. The human genome project has already established a basis, and initial successes are already showing its feasibility.
For terrorism, in addition to the conventional release of germs, it offers the option of living, biological bombs. A suicide bomber infected with a new super-agent, already acting as a carrier. Because of a more extended incubation period of several weeks, he has no symptoms whatsoever and can travel everywhere. He can precisely infect as many people as possible in airports, subway and train stations, shopping malls, significant events and critical political, military and economic points and centers. Before he falls ill himself, he disappears to die without the outbreak being reported, and as soon as the first symptoms appear in the population, one expects an ordinary flu episode.
Since many diseases such as smallpox are now considered extinct, vaccines are no longer administered for decades due to the associated risk. Thus, the immunity of the entire population decreases in various diseases and therefore attracts their re-use as a weapon.
At the end of the First World War Germany was a leader in biological and chemical warfare, but these programs were discontinued within the following years and not resumed. Imagine what would have been possible, for example in cooperation with the allied and active Japanese working people, if the research had been actively promoted. The Japanese were so leading in this field that senior medical professionals contributed significantly to the development of similar programs among Russians and Americans after the war.
Since most of today's applications are subject to military secrecy, the actual state of research can only be guessed. There are hardly any official data on biowarfare programs, apart from sparse fragments. Except, for example, the fact that genetically modified organisms have been used for research for years.
That many of the research would be very interesting for medicine, is tragic. Military secrecy prevents peaceful use. Not only that the existing diseases are not cured. On the contrary, instead vast sums of money are invested and worse plagues created.
The psychological factor makes biological weapons superior to chemical weapons. A perfidious pathogen, with a week-long incubation period, would lead to the collapse of public order. Paranoia would spread. Besides, if the symptoms are similar to those of the typical flu in the cold season, the chaos is perfect. Whether it's terrorist regimes, regular terrorists or official governments, they are the producers.
A primary focus of development is always on the demanding recognition of the warfare agents. So that they can work as long as possible. And then it is already too late. It is only a matter of time until the beginning age of bioterrorism.
Die Folgen von „natürlichen“ Seuchen haben sich ins kollektive Gedächtnis eingebrannt. Jetzt stelle man sich erst künstliche Plagen vor.
Es begann mit in belagerte Städte katapultierten Pestleichen, verseuchten Brunnen und geschenkten Decken. Die Geschichte der biologischen Kriegsführung ist uralt. Und mit Hilfe der Technik wird ihr Potential für einen Flächenbrand voll entfaltet.
So wurde das Erbgut des Erregers der spanischen Grippe aus exhumierten Leichen gewonnen, entschlüsselt, nachgebaut und wieder zum Leben erweckt. Er ist übrigens mit der normalen Grippe verwandt. Das steht in Kontrast zur gezielten Panikmach rund um Vogel- und Schweinegrippe. Die eigentlich ausgestorbenen Pocken existieren noch in Laboratorien der Russen und Amerikaner. Zu Forschungszwecken, der defensiven biologischen Kriegsführung wegen und um dem Präventions- und Abschreckungsgedanken gerecht zu werden. Da trifft es sich gut, dass die Amerikaner den Biowaffensperrvertrag einseitig aufgekündigt, bereits einige Patente angemeldet und ihre Forschungen in diesem Bereich wieder intensiviert haben.
Es gibt verschiedene Eigenschaften, die Pilze, Bakterien und Viren für die Forscher interessant machen. Begehrt sind unter anderem hohe Ansteckungsraten bei langen Inkubationszeiten, Überleben außerhalb eines Wirts, Unempfindlichkeit gegenüber Witterungseinflüssen und im speziellen die Mortalitätsrate. Je mehr Prozent, desto besser.
Jede Krankheit hat diesbezüglich ihre Vor- und Nachteile. So zählen hämorrhagische Fieber zwar in punkto Tödlichkeit mit bis zu 90 Prozent zu den absoluten Spitzenreitern und sind per Tröpfcheninfektion hoch ansteckend. Allerdings überleben sie nur sehr kurz in freier Luft und vertragen Kälte überhaupt nicht.
Die Pest ist zwar psychologisch hochwirksam, verliert aber durch ihre gute Behandelbarkeit mit Antibiotika das meiste an Schrecken.
An diesem Punkt tritt die Biochemie und Gentechnik auf den Plan. Denn es lassen sich lästige Achillesfersen wie mangelnde Widerstandskraft gegen UV-Strahlung, Witterungseinflüsse und Antibiotika sowie zu geringe Ansteckungsgefahr mit den Annehmlichkeiten moderner Technik ausbügeln. Es gibt intensive Forschungen in diesem Bereich. Bekannte Beispiele sind die Ebolapocken, an denen die Russen angeblich arbeiteten, UV-resistente Keime oder Chimären aus antibiotikaresistenten Krankenhauskeimen und Pest.
Man braucht sich nur alle Fähigkeiten und Übertragungswege bekannter Erreger anzusehen und sich eine Wunschkombination auszudenken. Es werden mit Voranschreiten der Forschung und Technik etlichen Spielarten Tür und Tor geöffnet. Da nicht nur immer neue künstliche Lebensformen hergestellt werden, sondern auch mit bisher unbekannten, neuen Keimen experimentiert wird. Beispielsweise aus den unerschlossenen Regenwäldern oder aus auftauenden Permafrostböden. Diese werden die Bandbreite an Variationsmöglichkeiten noch weiter erhöhen.
Ethnische Waffen sind eine Spezialisierung auf die genetischen Eigenschaften einer bestimmten Bevölkerungsgruppe. Von der Tatsache ausgehend, dass Laktoseintoleranz und andere Besonderheiten, die fast nur auf einzelnen Kontinenten und bei deren Bevölkerung vorkommen,
Weit verbreitete, genetische Besonderheiten wie Laktosetoleranz oder Immunität gegen Malaria können als Zielinstruktion heran gezogen werden. Damit wird es möglich werden, individuell auf diese zugeschnittene Seuchen zu kreieren, gegen die andere Völker immun sind. Man kann noch näher ins Detail gehen und die Zielgruppe erweitern oder verkleinern.
Im Rahmen des Humangenomprojekts wurde bereits eine Grundlage geschaffen und es sind bereits erste Erfolge zu verbuchen, die die Machbarkeit belegen.
Für den Terrorismus bietet sich neben der konventionellen Freisetzung von Keimen, die Option der lebenden, biologischen Bombe. Ein mit einem neuen Supererreger infizierter Selbstmordattentäter, der bereits als Überträger fungiert. Der allerdings wegen einer längeren Inkubationszeit von mehreren Wochen noch keinerlei Symptomatik aufweist ungehindert reist. Er kann gezielt in Flughäfen, Ubahn- und Bahnhöfen, Einkaufszentren, Großveranstaltungen sowie neuralgischen politischen-, militärischen und wirtschaftlichen Punkten und Zentren möglichst viele Menschen infizieren. Bevor er selbst erkrankt, verschwindet er um zu sterben, ohne dass der Ausbruch gemeldet wird und sobald die ersten Symptome in der Bevölkerung auftreten rechnet man mit einer normalen Grippewelle.
Da viele Krankheiten wie die Pocken mittlerweile als ausgestorben gelten, werden aufgrund des damit einhergehenden Risikos seit Jahrzehnten keine Impfungen mehr verabreicht. Somit sinkt die Immunität der Gesamtbevölkerung bei diversen Krankheiten und attraktiviert damit ihre erneute Nutzung als Waffe.
Am Ende des ersten Weltkriegs war Deutschland führend im Bereich der biologischen und chemischen Kriegsführung, diese Programme wurden allerdings innerhalb der folgenden Jahre eingestellt und nicht wieder aufgenommen. Man stelle sich vor was, etwa in Zusammenarbeit mit den verbündeten und in diesem Sektor aktiv arbeitenden Japanern, möglich gewesen wäre, wenn die Forschungen aktiv gefördert weiter getrieben worden wären. Die Japaner waren so führend in diesem Bereich, dass leitende Mediziner nach Kriegsende maßgeblich zum Aufbau ähnlicher Programme bei Russen und Amerikanern beitrugen.
Da die meisten der heutigen Programme militärischer Geheimhaltung unterliegen lässt sich der wirkliche Stand der Forschung nur erraten. Es gibt zum Beispiel über das deutsche Biowaffenprogramm, außer spärlichen Fragmenten, kaum offizielle Daten. Außer etwa, dass seit Jahren gentechnisch veränderte Organismen zur Forschung verwendet werden.
Dass viele der Forschungen für die Medizin hoch interessant wären, ist tragisch. Die militärische Geheimhaltung verhindert eine friedliche Nutzung. Nicht nur, dass die bestehenden Krankheiten nicht geheilt werden. Es werden im Gegenteil stattdessen mit Unsummen noch schlimmere Plagen erschaffen.
Der psychologische Faktor macht die Biowaffen den Chemiewaffen überlegen. Ein perfider, mit einer wochenlangen Inkubationszeit ausgestatteter Erreger, würde zum Zusammenbruch der öffentlichen Ordnung führen. Die Paranoia würde um sich greifen. Wenn die Symptome zusätzlich denen einer normalen Grippe in der Erkältungssaison ähneln, ist das Chaos perfekt.
Egal, ob es Terrorregime, normale Terroristen oder offizielle Regierungen die Produzenten sind. Ein Hauptaugenmerk der Entwicklung dürfte immer auf der schweren Erkennbarkeit der Kampfstoffe liegen. Damit sie möglichst lange wirken können. Und es dann längst zu spät ist. Bis dahin ist es nur eine Frage der Zeit im beginnenden Zeitalter des Bioterrorismus.
Please note that I put the original German text at the end of this review. Just if you might be interested.
It began with pest corpses catapulted into besieged cities, contaminated wells and gifted blankets. The history of biological warfare is ancient. And with the help of technology, their potential for a wildfire is fully developed.
Thus, the genome of the causative agent of the Spanish flu was recovered from exhumed corpses, decrypted, rebuilt and brought back to life. Incidentally, it is related to the ordinary flu. This is in contrast to the targeted panic about bird and swine flu. Extinct smallpox still exists in laboratories of the Russians and Americans. For research purposes, because of the defensive biological warfare and because of the prevention and deterrence idea. So it is a good thing that the Americans unilaterally canceled some parts of the biological weapons convention, have already registered some patents and intensified their research in this area again.
Several properties make mushrooms, bacteria, and viruses interesting for researchers. Among other things, high infection rates with long incubation times, survival outside of a host, insensitivity to weather influences and, in particular, the mortality rate are in demand. The more percent, the better.
Every illness has its advantages and disadvantages in this regard. Although hemorrhagic fevers are among the absolute leaders regarding lethality with up to 90 percent, they are highly contagious due to droplet infection. However, they survive only very briefly in the open air and do not tolerate cold at all.
The plague is psychologically highly efficient but loses its horror due to its excellent treatability with antibiotics.
At this point, biochemistry and genetic engineering come on the scene. Because it can iron out annoying Achilles heels such as lack of resistance to UV radiation, weather conditions, and antibiotics as well as low risk of infection with the conveniences of modern technology. There is intensive research in this area. Well-known examples are the ebolapox, on which the Russians allegedly worked, UV-resistant germs or chimeras from antibiotic-resistant hospital germs and plague. One only has to look at all abilities and transmission paths of known pathogens and come up with a combination of wishes. With the advancement of research and technology, numerous varieties will be opened the door. As not only new artificial life forms are produced, but also with previously unknown, unique germs experiments are made. For example, from the undeveloped rainforests or from thawing permafrost soils. These will increase the range of possible variations even further.
Ethnic weapons are specializations in the genetic characteristics to fit a particular population group. Based on the fact that lactose intolerance and other peculiarities that occur almost only on individual continents and in their population, common genetic characteristics such as lactose tolerance or immunity to malaria can be used as the target. This will make it possible to individually create these tailored diseases, against which other peoples are immune. One can go into more detail and expand or contract the target group. The human genome project has already established a basis, and initial successes are already showing its feasibility.
For terrorism, in addition to the conventional release of germs, it offers the option of living, biological bombs. A suicide bomber infected with a new super-agent, already acting as a carrier. Because of a more extended incubation period of several weeks, he has no symptoms whatsoever and can travel everywhere. He can precisely infect as many people as possible in airports, subway and train stations, shopping malls, significant events and critical political, military and economic points and centers. Before he falls ill himself, he disappears to die without the outbreak being reported, and as soon as the first symptoms appear in the population, one expects an ordinary flu episode.
Since many diseases such as smallpox are now considered extinct, vaccines are no longer administered for decades due to the associated risk. Thus, the immunity of the entire population decreases in various diseases and therefore attracts their re-use as a weapon.
At the end of the First World War Germany was a leader in biological and chemical warfare, but these programs were discontinued within the following years and not resumed. Imagine what would have been possible, for example in cooperation with the allied and active Japanese working people, if the research had been actively promoted. The Japanese were so leading in this field that senior medical professionals contributed significantly to the development of similar programs among Russians and Americans after the war.
Since most of today's applications are subject to military secrecy, the actual state of research can only be guessed. There are hardly any official data on biowarfare programs, apart from sparse fragments. Except, for example, the fact that genetically modified organisms have been used for research for years.
That many of the research would be very interesting for medicine, is tragic. Military secrecy prevents peaceful use. Not only that the existing diseases are not cured. On the contrary, instead vast sums of money are invested and worse plagues created.
The psychological factor makes biological weapons superior to chemical weapons. A perfidious pathogen, with a week-long incubation period, would lead to the collapse of public order. Paranoia would spread. Besides, if the symptoms are similar to those of the typical flu in the cold season, the chaos is perfect. Whether it's terrorist regimes, regular terrorists or official governments, they are the producers.
A primary focus of development is always on the demanding recognition of the warfare agents. So that they can work as long as possible. And then it is already too late. It is only a matter of time until the beginning age of bioterrorism.
Die Folgen von „natürlichen“ Seuchen haben sich ins kollektive Gedächtnis eingebrannt. Jetzt stelle man sich erst künstliche Plagen vor.
Es begann mit in belagerte Städte katapultierten Pestleichen, verseuchten Brunnen und geschenkten Decken. Die Geschichte der biologischen Kriegsführung ist uralt. Und mit Hilfe der Technik wird ihr Potential für einen Flächenbrand voll entfaltet.
So wurde das Erbgut des Erregers der spanischen Grippe aus exhumierten Leichen gewonnen, entschlüsselt, nachgebaut und wieder zum Leben erweckt. Er ist übrigens mit der normalen Grippe verwandt. Das steht in Kontrast zur gezielten Panikmach rund um Vogel- und Schweinegrippe. Die eigentlich ausgestorbenen Pocken existieren noch in Laboratorien der Russen und Amerikaner. Zu Forschungszwecken, der defensiven biologischen Kriegsführung wegen und um dem Präventions- und Abschreckungsgedanken gerecht zu werden. Da trifft es sich gut, dass die Amerikaner den Biowaffensperrvertrag einseitig aufgekündigt, bereits einige Patente angemeldet und ihre Forschungen in diesem Bereich wieder intensiviert haben.
Es gibt verschiedene Eigenschaften, die Pilze, Bakterien und Viren für die Forscher interessant machen. Begehrt sind unter anderem hohe Ansteckungsraten bei langen Inkubationszeiten, Überleben außerhalb eines Wirts, Unempfindlichkeit gegenüber Witterungseinflüssen und im speziellen die Mortalitätsrate. Je mehr Prozent, desto besser.
Jede Krankheit hat diesbezüglich ihre Vor- und Nachteile. So zählen hämorrhagische Fieber zwar in punkto Tödlichkeit mit bis zu 90 Prozent zu den absoluten Spitzenreitern und sind per Tröpfcheninfektion hoch ansteckend. Allerdings überleben sie nur sehr kurz in freier Luft und vertragen Kälte überhaupt nicht.
Die Pest ist zwar psychologisch hochwirksam, verliert aber durch ihre gute Behandelbarkeit mit Antibiotika das meiste an Schrecken.
An diesem Punkt tritt die Biochemie und Gentechnik auf den Plan. Denn es lassen sich lästige Achillesfersen wie mangelnde Widerstandskraft gegen UV-Strahlung, Witterungseinflüsse und Antibiotika sowie zu geringe Ansteckungsgefahr mit den Annehmlichkeiten moderner Technik ausbügeln. Es gibt intensive Forschungen in diesem Bereich. Bekannte Beispiele sind die Ebolapocken, an denen die Russen angeblich arbeiteten, UV-resistente Keime oder Chimären aus antibiotikaresistenten Krankenhauskeimen und Pest.
Man braucht sich nur alle Fähigkeiten und Übertragungswege bekannter Erreger anzusehen und sich eine Wunschkombination auszudenken. Es werden mit Voranschreiten der Forschung und Technik etlichen Spielarten Tür und Tor geöffnet. Da nicht nur immer neue künstliche Lebensformen hergestellt werden, sondern auch mit bisher unbekannten, neuen Keimen experimentiert wird. Beispielsweise aus den unerschlossenen Regenwäldern oder aus auftauenden Permafrostböden. Diese werden die Bandbreite an Variationsmöglichkeiten noch weiter erhöhen.
Ethnische Waffen sind eine Spezialisierung auf die genetischen Eigenschaften einer bestimmten Bevölkerungsgruppe. Von der Tatsache ausgehend, dass Laktoseintoleranz und andere Besonderheiten, die fast nur auf einzelnen Kontinenten und bei deren Bevölkerung vorkommen,
Weit verbreitete, genetische Besonderheiten wie Laktosetoleranz oder Immunität gegen Malaria können als Zielinstruktion heran gezogen werden. Damit wird es möglich werden, individuell auf diese zugeschnittene Seuchen zu kreieren, gegen die andere Völker immun sind. Man kann noch näher ins Detail gehen und die Zielgruppe erweitern oder verkleinern.
Im Rahmen des Humangenomprojekts wurde bereits eine Grundlage geschaffen und es sind bereits erste Erfolge zu verbuchen, die die Machbarkeit belegen.
Für den Terrorismus bietet sich neben der konventionellen Freisetzung von Keimen, die Option der lebenden, biologischen Bombe. Ein mit einem neuen Supererreger infizierter Selbstmordattentäter, der bereits als Überträger fungiert. Der allerdings wegen einer längeren Inkubationszeit von mehreren Wochen noch keinerlei Symptomatik aufweist ungehindert reist. Er kann gezielt in Flughäfen, Ubahn- und Bahnhöfen, Einkaufszentren, Großveranstaltungen sowie neuralgischen politischen-, militärischen und wirtschaftlichen Punkten und Zentren möglichst viele Menschen infizieren. Bevor er selbst erkrankt, verschwindet er um zu sterben, ohne dass der Ausbruch gemeldet wird und sobald die ersten Symptome in der Bevölkerung auftreten rechnet man mit einer normalen Grippewelle.
Da viele Krankheiten wie die Pocken mittlerweile als ausgestorben gelten, werden aufgrund des damit einhergehenden Risikos seit Jahrzehnten keine Impfungen mehr verabreicht. Somit sinkt die Immunität der Gesamtbevölkerung bei diversen Krankheiten und attraktiviert damit ihre erneute Nutzung als Waffe.
Am Ende des ersten Weltkriegs war Deutschland führend im Bereich der biologischen und chemischen Kriegsführung, diese Programme wurden allerdings innerhalb der folgenden Jahre eingestellt und nicht wieder aufgenommen. Man stelle sich vor was, etwa in Zusammenarbeit mit den verbündeten und in diesem Sektor aktiv arbeitenden Japanern, möglich gewesen wäre, wenn die Forschungen aktiv gefördert weiter getrieben worden wären. Die Japaner waren so führend in diesem Bereich, dass leitende Mediziner nach Kriegsende maßgeblich zum Aufbau ähnlicher Programme bei Russen und Amerikanern beitrugen.
Da die meisten der heutigen Programme militärischer Geheimhaltung unterliegen lässt sich der wirkliche Stand der Forschung nur erraten. Es gibt zum Beispiel über das deutsche Biowaffenprogramm, außer spärlichen Fragmenten, kaum offizielle Daten. Außer etwa, dass seit Jahren gentechnisch veränderte Organismen zur Forschung verwendet werden.
Dass viele der Forschungen für die Medizin hoch interessant wären, ist tragisch. Die militärische Geheimhaltung verhindert eine friedliche Nutzung. Nicht nur, dass die bestehenden Krankheiten nicht geheilt werden. Es werden im Gegenteil stattdessen mit Unsummen noch schlimmere Plagen erschaffen.
Der psychologische Faktor macht die Biowaffen den Chemiewaffen überlegen. Ein perfider, mit einer wochenlangen Inkubationszeit ausgestatteter Erreger, würde zum Zusammenbruch der öffentlichen Ordnung führen. Die Paranoia würde um sich greifen. Wenn die Symptome zusätzlich denen einer normalen Grippe in der Erkältungssaison ähneln, ist das Chaos perfekt.
Egal, ob es Terrorregime, normale Terroristen oder offizielle Regierungen die Produzenten sind. Ein Hauptaugenmerk der Entwicklung dürfte immer auf der schweren Erkennbarkeit der Kampfstoffe liegen. Damit sie möglichst lange wirken können. Und es dann längst zu spät ist. Bis dahin ist es nur eine Frage der Zeit im beginnenden Zeitalter des Bioterrorismus.
August 18, 2019
P O R T O N D O W N C A M P D E T R I C K
U N U S U A L L Y D E E P G R A V E S
C H E M I C A L X
N A Z I B L A C K B O O K
S O V I E T G H O S T S H I P S
S E V E N T H D A Y A D V E N T I S T S H U M A N T E S T I N G
O P E R A T I O N R A N C H H A N D
U.S. C H E M I C A L C O R P S B L A C K M A G I C
V O Z R O Z H D E N I Y E ("R E B I R T H I S L A N D")
P R O J E C T C O A S T
B L O C K H U M A N F E R T I L I T Y
A R M O R F O R T H E I N N E R M A N
T H E P E N K O V S K Y P A P E R S
THE GROUND IS CONTAMINATED
GRUINARD ISLAND IS GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
THE GROUND IS CONTAMINATED
the uss bistera making her escape, suffering prolonged absorption
by dawn the following morning her officers and crew were almost all totally blind
it was eighteen hours before they eventually landed in harbor
doctors had to force them to open their eyes to prove that vision was still possible
U N U S U A L L Y D E E P G R A V E S
C H E M I C A L X
N A Z I B L A C K B O O K
S O V I E T G H O S T S H I P S
S E V E N T H D A Y A D V E N T I S T S H U M A N T E S T I N G
O P E R A T I O N R A N C H H A N D
U.S. C H E M I C A L C O R P S B L A C K M A G I C
V O Z R O Z H D E N I Y E ("R E B I R T H I S L A N D")
P R O J E C T C O A S T
B L O C K H U M A N F E R T I L I T Y
A R M O R F O R T H E I N N E R M A N
T H E P E N K O V S K Y P A P E R S
THE GROUND IS CONTAMINATED
GRUINARD ISLAND IS GOVERNMENT PROPERTY
THE GROUND IS CONTAMINATED
the uss bistera making her escape, suffering prolonged absorption
by dawn the following morning her officers and crew were almost all totally blind
it was eighteen hours before they eventually landed in harbor
doctors had to force them to open their eyes to prove that vision was still possible
August 17, 2020
Unfortunately there has been a few deletions in the second edition of this book.
The First Edition is still the finest, and the material on Dr. Donald MacArthur and the Senate Appropiations Committee were 'forgotten'
---
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1970
PART 5
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST, AND EVALUATION
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
Budget and Financial Management
Budget for Secretarial Activities
Chamical and Biological Warfare
Defense Installations and Procurement
Defense Intelligence Agency
Operation and Maintence, Defense Agencies
Procurement Defense Agencies
Safeguard Ballistic Missle Defense System
Testimony of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
Testimony of Members of Congress and Other
Individuals and Organizations
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
35-262 WASHINGTON : 1969
------
PAGE 129
TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1969
agents that we have ever considered. So, we have to believe they are probably working in the same areas.
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGICAL AGENTS
There are two things about the biological agent field I would like to mention. One is the possibility of technological surprise. Molecular biology is a field that is advancing very rapidly and eminent biologists believe that within a period of 5 to 10 years it would be possible to produce a synthetic biological agent, an agent that does not naturally exist and for which no natural immunity could have been acquired.
MR. SIKES. Are we doing any work in that field?
DR. MACARTHUR. We are not.
MR. SIKES. Why not? Lack of money or lack of interest?
DR. MACARTHUR. Certainly not lack of interest.
MR. SIKES. Would you provide for our records information on what would be required, what the advantages of such a program would be, the time and the cost involved?
DR. MACARTHUR. We will be very happy to.
(The information follows:)
The dramatic progress being made in the field of molecular biology led us to investigate the relevance of this field of science to biological warfare. A small group of experts considered this matter and provided the following observations:
1. All biological agents up the the present time are representatives of naturally occurring disease, and are thus known by scientists throughout the world. They are easily available to qualified scientists for research, either for offensive or defensive purposes.
2. Within the next 5 to 10 years, it would probably be possible to make a new infective microorganism which could differ in certain important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms. Most important of these is that it might be refractory to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease.
3. A research program to explore the feasibility of this could be completed in approximately 5 years at a total cost of $10 million.
4. It would be very difficult to establish such a program. Molecular biology is a relatively new science. There are not many highly competent scientists in the field. Almost all are in university laboratories, and they are generally adequately supported from sources other than DOD. However, it was considered possible to initiate an adequate program through the National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council (NAS-NRC).
The matter was discussed with the NAS-NRC, and tentative plans were plans were made to initiate the program. However decreasing funds in CB, growing criticism of the CB program, and our reluctance to involve the NAS-NRC in such a controversial endeavor have led us to postpone it for the past 2 years.
It is a highly controversial issue and there are many who believe such research should not be undertaken lest it lead to yet another method of massive killing of large populations. On the other hand, without the sure scientific knowledge that such a weapon is possible, and an understanding of the ways it could be done, there is little that can be done to devise defensive measures. Should an enemy develop it, there is little doubt that this is an important area of potential military technological inferiority in which there is no adequate research program.
The First Edition is still the finest, and the material on Dr. Donald MacArthur and the Senate Appropiations Committee were 'forgotten'
---
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
APPROPRIATIONS FOR 1970
PART 5
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, TEST, AND EVALUATION
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY
Budget and Financial Management
Budget for Secretarial Activities
Chamical and Biological Warfare
Defense Installations and Procurement
Defense Intelligence Agency
Operation and Maintence, Defense Agencies
Procurement Defense Agencies
Safeguard Ballistic Missle Defense System
Testimony of Admiral Hyman G. Rickover
Testimony of Members of Congress and Other
Individuals and Organizations
Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations
U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
35-262 WASHINGTON : 1969
------
PAGE 129
TUESDAY, JULY 1, 1969
agents that we have ever considered. So, we have to believe they are probably working in the same areas.
SYNTHETIC BIOLOGICAL AGENTS
There are two things about the biological agent field I would like to mention. One is the possibility of technological surprise. Molecular biology is a field that is advancing very rapidly and eminent biologists believe that within a period of 5 to 10 years it would be possible to produce a synthetic biological agent, an agent that does not naturally exist and for which no natural immunity could have been acquired.
MR. SIKES. Are we doing any work in that field?
DR. MACARTHUR. We are not.
MR. SIKES. Why not? Lack of money or lack of interest?
DR. MACARTHUR. Certainly not lack of interest.
MR. SIKES. Would you provide for our records information on what would be required, what the advantages of such a program would be, the time and the cost involved?
DR. MACARTHUR. We will be very happy to.
(The information follows:)
The dramatic progress being made in the field of molecular biology led us to investigate the relevance of this field of science to biological warfare. A small group of experts considered this matter and provided the following observations:
1. All biological agents up the the present time are representatives of naturally occurring disease, and are thus known by scientists throughout the world. They are easily available to qualified scientists for research, either for offensive or defensive purposes.
2. Within the next 5 to 10 years, it would probably be possible to make a new infective microorganism which could differ in certain important aspects from any known disease-causing organisms. Most important of these is that it might be refractory to the immunological and therapeutic processes upon which we depend to maintain our relative freedom from infectious disease.
3. A research program to explore the feasibility of this could be completed in approximately 5 years at a total cost of $10 million.
4. It would be very difficult to establish such a program. Molecular biology is a relatively new science. There are not many highly competent scientists in the field. Almost all are in university laboratories, and they are generally adequately supported from sources other than DOD. However, it was considered possible to initiate an adequate program through the National Academy of Sciences - National Research Council (NAS-NRC).
The matter was discussed with the NAS-NRC, and tentative plans were plans were made to initiate the program. However decreasing funds in CB, growing criticism of the CB program, and our reluctance to involve the NAS-NRC in such a controversial endeavor have led us to postpone it for the past 2 years.
It is a highly controversial issue and there are many who believe such research should not be undertaken lest it lead to yet another method of massive killing of large populations. On the other hand, without the sure scientific knowledge that such a weapon is possible, and an understanding of the ways it could be done, there is little that can be done to devise defensive measures. Should an enemy develop it, there is little doubt that this is an important area of potential military technological inferiority in which there is no adequate research program.
April 24, 2018
Not a fast read. But well told history, and there is more to the subject than most people today understand or appreciate. This topic should be much more widely understood.
Read
June 16, 2025“Scientific warfare, once begun, has a life of its own.”
What an absolutely stomach churning horrific delight. I picked this book out of a pile of dusty used books both because it happened to have an attention grabbing cover—featuring an AK-47 wielding man covered by a gas mask and radiation suit—and because of its subject matter. I was drawn like an unsuspecting deep sea minnow into the strange chemical glow of the anglerfish’s lure.
I’m not sure what level of authorship I was expecting but what I found superseded anything I could’ve reasonably hoped for. A flip through the table of contents, notes, and index is enough to realize what a well-crafted artifact this book is. The research was originally undertaken with the idea of creating a BBC documentary of some sort. And indeed the quality of the authors’ sources makes me wish we had gotten one in tandem with the book. They include: an interview with a current director of Porton Down (Britain’s largest chemical warfare manufacturing facility since WWII), FOIA requests, books written by the people directly involved, testimonies to Nuremberg and senate committees, and my favorite, “author interviews with local sources.”
This is not your crazy uncle’s eyeball-in-crosshairs Web 1.0 manic conspiracy research project. This is intelligent people elbow-deep in this strange convoluted refuse pile that makes up real history.
And it’s a history that must be glanced at obliquely, a network of information that can only be gleaned in connections made after the fact, themes that must circle one’s head for years before their connectedness can either be ignored or stared straight into with a maniac intensity. We know these pieces on the chessboard. They make up a grammar that’s been farmed for our movies and books. But rarely are they rearranged in a coherent manner that can be read like a legible sentence.
There are the places. They are places that have been soaked in toxic infamy forever, pooling like the chemical agents that gave them their legacy. Ypres where scientists entered the history of warfare in a rolling green gas cloud in WWI. Porton Down where the British manufactured their weapons against humanity. Dyhernfurth where the Nazis synthesized the first nerve agents and won the Nobel Prize for doing so. Fort Detrick and Edgewood Arsenal and Pine Bluff and Dugway where the US created and continue to bolster their legacy of Geneva Protocol defiance while locals mistake their smoke stacks for gas chamber exhaust.
There are the operations. A vocabulary that at times seems so drenched in irony that it seems there must be some collective narrator and author determining what to call them. Their names are pulled from narrative mythology and scientific fantasy with such specific prescience that metaphor seems to live and grow from them like spiraling vines. Operation Overlord. Operation Pandora. Operation Harness. Operation Hesperus. Operation Cauldron. Operation Ozone. And others that are perhaps more well-known purely for the insanity of their methods. Operation Bluebird. Operation Midnight Climax. Operation Paperclip. I apologize if these are spoilers for the book for anyone who is a well-known friend to conspiracy and its cultural signifiers.
And there are the corporations. Siemens-Schuster. Merck. ICI. Du Pont. Monsanto. IG Farben. Entities as immortal as the pesticide particles that they’ve used to poison the lands and soldiers of every battle in which they’ve stuck their noses. They divide under scrutiny like thermodynamic quanta into subsidiaries and holding companies and charity nonprofits, their names and components reorganizing under new archons of horror. Their machinery is temporarily repurposed while the public eye is on them, they fund communities and conduct publicly acceptable research long enough to avoid controversy. But they’re never far from their truest form as weapons manufacturers. Their motivations drip with oil and insecticide and rocket fuel that flows through their veins while they sit quiescent, ready to refit the valves, motors, and centrifuges that turn medicine into poison.
And, as if he’s been ritualistically summoned by these motifs, I must quote Thomas Pynchon—or at least, Pynchon’s words delivered by Walter Rathenau: “You must ask two questions. First, what is the real nature of synthesis? And then: what is the real nature of control?” I don’t believe any book that I’ve read asks these questions more poignantly than A Higher Form of Killing. They are the keys to understanding the resonating and repeating history of the 20th century and the entire modern landscape of science and warfare.
The people of the world have watched this hubristic struggle for control through synthesis for over a century now. They’ve watched a space race fought by Nazi scientists who escaped hanging via quid pro quo agreements that have been whitewashed into vague arguments for using research results that we “found.” They’ve watched the CIA try to telepathically communicate with goats, astral project, consult witch doctors, practice voodoo, and sacrifice citizens and foreign diplomats at the altar of scientific progress and cybernetic control. They have been made insane pointing up at chemtrails and fluoride in the drinking water and any number of other clear symptoms of the impossible world into which they’ve been jettisoned. I beg for the world to empathize with them instead of deriding them as detached from reality. Reality is a more difficult thing to point to than any of us realize.
How could these cabalistic efforts of the powers that be result in anything other than a reality so cursed it would make Alastair Crowley blush? Certainly the modern civilian horrors of our world have been wrought by these military and industrial large scale tests. When I say anthrax who could think of anything other than Ted Kaczynski’s ironic deployment of the same biological weapon tested by the CIA in government buildings? When I say sarin gas who could help but think of the Tokyo subway gas attack, carried out by Aum Shinrikyo, a cult that represents Japan’s efforts to join the 20th century American CIA-backed theological wilderness of the Manson Family, Scientology, and Kool-Aid Acid Tested Free Love? And finally, how could I bring up LSD without evoking MKULTRA?
These odd rituals worked. But unfortunately the evils that they wrought were put into the hands of civilians and the flame they were given was fostered in the chemical factory vats of Hell rather than atop Mount Olympus. We bathe in their runoff everyday. Swallows fluttering in a marble birdbath less than a mile from Chernobyl.
What an absolutely stomach churning horrific delight. I picked this book out of a pile of dusty used books both because it happened to have an attention grabbing cover—featuring an AK-47 wielding man covered by a gas mask and radiation suit—and because of its subject matter. I was drawn like an unsuspecting deep sea minnow into the strange chemical glow of the anglerfish’s lure.
I’m not sure what level of authorship I was expecting but what I found superseded anything I could’ve reasonably hoped for. A flip through the table of contents, notes, and index is enough to realize what a well-crafted artifact this book is. The research was originally undertaken with the idea of creating a BBC documentary of some sort. And indeed the quality of the authors’ sources makes me wish we had gotten one in tandem with the book. They include: an interview with a current director of Porton Down (Britain’s largest chemical warfare manufacturing facility since WWII), FOIA requests, books written by the people directly involved, testimonies to Nuremberg and senate committees, and my favorite, “author interviews with local sources.”
This is not your crazy uncle’s eyeball-in-crosshairs Web 1.0 manic conspiracy research project. This is intelligent people elbow-deep in this strange convoluted refuse pile that makes up real history.
And it’s a history that must be glanced at obliquely, a network of information that can only be gleaned in connections made after the fact, themes that must circle one’s head for years before their connectedness can either be ignored or stared straight into with a maniac intensity. We know these pieces on the chessboard. They make up a grammar that’s been farmed for our movies and books. But rarely are they rearranged in a coherent manner that can be read like a legible sentence.
There are the places. They are places that have been soaked in toxic infamy forever, pooling like the chemical agents that gave them their legacy. Ypres where scientists entered the history of warfare in a rolling green gas cloud in WWI. Porton Down where the British manufactured their weapons against humanity. Dyhernfurth where the Nazis synthesized the first nerve agents and won the Nobel Prize for doing so. Fort Detrick and Edgewood Arsenal and Pine Bluff and Dugway where the US created and continue to bolster their legacy of Geneva Protocol defiance while locals mistake their smoke stacks for gas chamber exhaust.
There are the operations. A vocabulary that at times seems so drenched in irony that it seems there must be some collective narrator and author determining what to call them. Their names are pulled from narrative mythology and scientific fantasy with such specific prescience that metaphor seems to live and grow from them like spiraling vines. Operation Overlord. Operation Pandora. Operation Harness. Operation Hesperus. Operation Cauldron. Operation Ozone. And others that are perhaps more well-known purely for the insanity of their methods. Operation Bluebird. Operation Midnight Climax. Operation Paperclip. I apologize if these are spoilers for the book for anyone who is a well-known friend to conspiracy and its cultural signifiers.
And there are the corporations. Siemens-Schuster. Merck. ICI. Du Pont. Monsanto. IG Farben. Entities as immortal as the pesticide particles that they’ve used to poison the lands and soldiers of every battle in which they’ve stuck their noses. They divide under scrutiny like thermodynamic quanta into subsidiaries and holding companies and charity nonprofits, their names and components reorganizing under new archons of horror. Their machinery is temporarily repurposed while the public eye is on them, they fund communities and conduct publicly acceptable research long enough to avoid controversy. But they’re never far from their truest form as weapons manufacturers. Their motivations drip with oil and insecticide and rocket fuel that flows through their veins while they sit quiescent, ready to refit the valves, motors, and centrifuges that turn medicine into poison.
And, as if he’s been ritualistically summoned by these motifs, I must quote Thomas Pynchon—or at least, Pynchon’s words delivered by Walter Rathenau: “You must ask two questions. First, what is the real nature of synthesis? And then: what is the real nature of control?” I don’t believe any book that I’ve read asks these questions more poignantly than A Higher Form of Killing. They are the keys to understanding the resonating and repeating history of the 20th century and the entire modern landscape of science and warfare.
The people of the world have watched this hubristic struggle for control through synthesis for over a century now. They’ve watched a space race fought by Nazi scientists who escaped hanging via quid pro quo agreements that have been whitewashed into vague arguments for using research results that we “found.” They’ve watched the CIA try to telepathically communicate with goats, astral project, consult witch doctors, practice voodoo, and sacrifice citizens and foreign diplomats at the altar of scientific progress and cybernetic control. They have been made insane pointing up at chemtrails and fluoride in the drinking water and any number of other clear symptoms of the impossible world into which they’ve been jettisoned. I beg for the world to empathize with them instead of deriding them as detached from reality. Reality is a more difficult thing to point to than any of us realize.
How could these cabalistic efforts of the powers that be result in anything other than a reality so cursed it would make Alastair Crowley blush? Certainly the modern civilian horrors of our world have been wrought by these military and industrial large scale tests. When I say anthrax who could think of anything other than Ted Kaczynski’s ironic deployment of the same biological weapon tested by the CIA in government buildings? When I say sarin gas who could help but think of the Tokyo subway gas attack, carried out by Aum Shinrikyo, a cult that represents Japan’s efforts to join the 20th century American CIA-backed theological wilderness of the Manson Family, Scientology, and Kool-Aid Acid Tested Free Love? And finally, how could I bring up LSD without evoking MKULTRA?
These odd rituals worked. But unfortunately the evils that they wrought were put into the hands of civilians and the flame they were given was fostered in the chemical factory vats of Hell rather than atop Mount Olympus. We bathe in their runoff everyday. Swallows fluttering in a marble birdbath less than a mile from Chernobyl.
September 19, 2023
3.5 - the books I read for this class are wild but this one was so interesting
June 8, 2021
Excellent book.
February 15, 2024
Another book for my war class. This book was an eye-opening and well written account of how warfare developed from WWI to WWII. I was abashedly unlearned about the effects and evolution of chemical and specifically biological warfare. This book was a hard read due to the extreme loss of life and the vile ways in which weapons were tested, but it was extremely informative, and important in my formation of ideas on warfare.
February 16, 2017
It feels odd to give 4 stars to a book that gave me the creeps. Why do I read these things? Will it ever be possible to "un-read" something? CBW (chemical and biological warfare) really began with the use of gas in World War I and things continued to escalate from there. The major world powers agreed that they wouldn't initiate the use of chemical or biological weapons. But since they didn't trust each other they dedicated a LOT of resources toward defending against their use. In the name of defense they did a lot of research into newer, more lethal weapons and produced them in quantities that would annihilate anyone who tried to attack them first. It's all very disconcerting to think about. One small consolation is that the bulk of this book was written 35 years ago, which makes some things feel so ancient that they surely aren't applicable anymore, right?
March 4, 2017
An interesting read. It answered all my questions I had on the subject (when was chemical weapons first used, were they used in WW2, what did people at the time think of the weapons, what has happend since etc.). This seems to be one area that however much nobody likes the weapons there is never enough trust with other countries (especially known unstable countries) for the major powers to be able to give up stockpiling or research for the sake of defence.
Some of the writing could have been smoother as at times it appeared to go back on previous events described which for me caused some confusion, but a worthwhile read on a little understood subject.
Some of the writing could have been smoother as at times it appeared to go back on previous events described which for me caused some confusion, but a worthwhile read on a little understood subject.
April 26, 2020
I purchased and read this book when I was at Fort McClellan, Alabama. I read this book as part of my studies while attending the US Army Chemical Corps School.
March 30, 2022
When I started reading this book, the prospect of chemical and biological warfare seemed to me almost inconceivable. It’s 2022 ffs, wars are fought online, duh!
The main reason I even bought this book in January this year is because I am a big Jeremy Paxman fan, and having read his memoir not long ago, I thought I should give this a read too. It was a bit of an obscure topic, definitely not something you’d discuss in History lessons, and such a highbrow Paxman topic at the same time; I couldn’t resist.
The Sarin attacks in Japan, the poisoning of Ukrainian President Yushcenko, and the Salisbury poisonings were the few biological attacks that I’d heard of in my 30 years of life, and with the exception of the Salisbury attack, I felt like this topic was always brushed under the carpet, presented in the media as an isolated attack, definitely not something that the general public should be concerned about: Some loners, acting on their own sending Anthrax in an envelope, don’t worry about it!
Well, having just finished reading this book, end of March 2022, my friends, we should all be worried, very worried. The threat of chemical weapons hasn’t felt as real in generations.
I don’t want to include any spoilers if I can even call them that but we have been playing around with chemical and biological weapons for quite a long time now! I had no idea! Despite all the pacts and treaties banning any country from possessing any kind of chemical weapons, millions were spent on research, and tens, hundreds of thousands of people have died because of these weapons.
Media 10,20,30 years ago didn’t really talk about this, maybe for fear of panicking the masses, nor did we learn about it in school because it’s shameful, and painful to think that we are capable of inflicting such pain and suffering on our kind and that millions of dollars and pounds were spent on perfecting this “higher form of killing”.
It’s such an interesting read, full of facts and quotes, very well documented, perhaps too well documented. At times, it feels like a heavy read, with 5 paragraphs in a row talking about the same thing with different words.
I like my facts concise and the quotes to the point.
Nonetheless, I have a feeling this book is going to see a reprint soon, if Paxman stays healthy and well, which I really hope he does.
The main reason I even bought this book in January this year is because I am a big Jeremy Paxman fan, and having read his memoir not long ago, I thought I should give this a read too. It was a bit of an obscure topic, definitely not something you’d discuss in History lessons, and such a highbrow Paxman topic at the same time; I couldn’t resist.
The Sarin attacks in Japan, the poisoning of Ukrainian President Yushcenko, and the Salisbury poisonings were the few biological attacks that I’d heard of in my 30 years of life, and with the exception of the Salisbury attack, I felt like this topic was always brushed under the carpet, presented in the media as an isolated attack, definitely not something that the general public should be concerned about: Some loners, acting on their own sending Anthrax in an envelope, don’t worry about it!
Well, having just finished reading this book, end of March 2022, my friends, we should all be worried, very worried. The threat of chemical weapons hasn’t felt as real in generations.
I don’t want to include any spoilers if I can even call them that but we have been playing around with chemical and biological weapons for quite a long time now! I had no idea! Despite all the pacts and treaties banning any country from possessing any kind of chemical weapons, millions were spent on research, and tens, hundreds of thousands of people have died because of these weapons.
Media 10,20,30 years ago didn’t really talk about this, maybe for fear of panicking the masses, nor did we learn about it in school because it’s shameful, and painful to think that we are capable of inflicting such pain and suffering on our kind and that millions of dollars and pounds were spent on perfecting this “higher form of killing”.
It’s such an interesting read, full of facts and quotes, very well documented, perhaps too well documented. At times, it feels like a heavy read, with 5 paragraphs in a row talking about the same thing with different words.
I like my facts concise and the quotes to the point.
Nonetheless, I have a feeling this book is going to see a reprint soon, if Paxman stays healthy and well, which I really hope he does.
September 14, 2021
A colleague loaned me this one as we both work adjacent to this field.
I very much appreciated the matter of fact writing style that skirted the line between dry history and emotion very well. It's easy to swing too far in either direction with this sort of topic and the authors did a great job balancing that.
Chemical weapons are horrific. Biological weapons are horrific. The things that we have done with them, and have tried to do, are horrific. That's something we should not forget.
Good book. Disturbing, but good.
I very much appreciated the matter of fact writing style that skirted the line between dry history and emotion very well. It's easy to swing too far in either direction with this sort of topic and the authors did a great job balancing that.
Chemical weapons are horrific. Biological weapons are horrific. The things that we have done with them, and have tried to do, are horrific. That's something we should not forget.
Good book. Disturbing, but good.
Read
July 28, 2022A very detailed historical account of the development and use of chemical / biological weapons in Europe and USA.
Also details of the mishaps and political motivations driving these destructive productions - mishaps that killed scientists, workers and mustard gas that maimed thousands.
While I have read of the chemical warfare in WW1 abd 2, the accounts of the use of chemical and biological weapons in Africa by colonial powers unearthed the pain of war and abuse of power.
Also details of the mishaps and political motivations driving these destructive productions - mishaps that killed scientists, workers and mustard gas that maimed thousands.
While I have read of the chemical warfare in WW1 abd 2, the accounts of the use of chemical and biological weapons in Africa by colonial powers unearthed the pain of war and abuse of power.
October 26, 2023
Released in 2002: I don’t know if I’m better off after reading this but I can see why conspiracies, cults, extremism, and distrust of national government develops. Very disturbing and exceedingly worrisome history. If your plate is full of the worries of today, you might skip this one though it appears the only country that has recently used them is Russia! I’m so surprised. 🙄
Update: As of 2023 the US has destroyed all its chemical weapons.
Update: As of 2023 the US has destroyed all its chemical weapons.
April 13, 2025
This was the first book I read as I began researching my new book (besides the books I had read for my previous book) and it was eye-opening to say the least. This book was of inestimable help to me, but it makes me fear for the safety of the world. The coverage of this topic is both broad and deep, and serves as a great primer on the subject of CB warfare. Highly recommended
June 24, 2017
I only read up to pg 132, which is why this is a freeze it. I'll most likely come back to the book again, but right now, I really enjoyed what I did read.
January 9, 2018
Equal parts fascinating and terrifying
December 9, 2020
This is a different kind of book from Robert Harris. Also very dated, or not depending on how you look at it.
December 6, 2022
Honestly really horrifying and unsettling. Chemical warfare is somewhat overlooked in war narratives so this book does a good job in filling the gaps though I wish I hadn’t read some parts lol
March 27, 2023
A disconnected collection of facts and anecdotes, no technical depths or unifying coherent narrative.
July 2, 2023
A mental read...
September 28, 2023
Interesting history of chemical and biological warfare starting from WW1.
August 13, 2016
i read this book 13 or 14 years ago. really! (yes! i'm just adding it now!) not that it was forgotten. it has lived in the back of my brain ever since. when the anthrax scare happened, when i saw mr. death, whenever the X-files had episodes about strange diseases, whenever i think of sheep on rocky scottish islands (for reals! look up Gruinard Island), whenever W mentioned imaginary WMD's, and now, yesterday, when i listened to the new episode of radiolab (http://www.radiolab.org/2012/jan/09/) and found out that fritz haber, father of biowarfare, lived in the city where i now live. in fact, the title of the book is from a quote by this lovely piece of work. this is what you get when you invent, and USE, chlorine gas: your wife kills herself in protest of your actions, your government is taken over by nazis, who first drive out jewish people like yourself and then take another of your inventions, zyklon A, and make it even deadlier, zyklon B, and more effective at killing off your relatives. that's just part of it. i'm beside myself and a little angry. just, i dunno, read the book. if you can stomach the fact that in WWI the opposition had no idea what mustard or chlorine gas were, so when they were hit with it they would run. the gas would overtake them and they would run, and then they would be gasping for air, so they would remove their gasmasks. gasping = quicker, more painful death full of mucus and blood and drowning in your own saliva and seriously, this book had an effect on me. duh.
January 15, 2014
Robert Harris's A Higher Form of Killing is filled with history on the use of chemical and biological warfare. WW1 atarted the first usage of lethal gasses on the battlefield and was soon evolved into more affective chemical weapons.It never gave a striaght story line on the past events toward chemical warfare but instead talked about how chemical warfare was used in soceity. This book went slowly due to the fact it seemed to just be facts instead of a story with facts incorporated in it. However, if you are trying to learn more about the reasons and places to use chemical warfare then this book would be very interesting for you to read. One thing that is interesting about this book is that it talked about other countries who are trying to recreate these killing devices. Its amazing how fast third world countries can catch on but its also very dangerous. Through reading this book, you get to learn about the interesting and somewhat secretive facts about how chemical warfare is used in terroist attacks and other dangerous circumstances.
May 21, 2016
Overall this is a pretty enjoyable history of chemical and biological warfare in the 20th century. I have a few problems with it, however, the least of which is that it's a bit dry and repetitive.
I was annoyed that the authors sort of glossed over the human experimentation conducted by the US Army Chemical Corps at Edgewood Arsenal. I realize this book is fairly broad in its scope, but one would imagine that a chemical weapons testing program that lasted more than 20 years and utilized over 7,000 human test subjects would merit more than a few paragraphs.
I also found it troubling that the final chapter, written in 2001, also states that "much of Iraq's CBW arsenal remains intact" and that "it may be regarded as almost certain that Iraq has continued to develop CBW." Baloney.
I was annoyed that the authors sort of glossed over the human experimentation conducted by the US Army Chemical Corps at Edgewood Arsenal. I realize this book is fairly broad in its scope, but one would imagine that a chemical weapons testing program that lasted more than 20 years and utilized over 7,000 human test subjects would merit more than a few paragraphs.
I also found it troubling that the final chapter, written in 2001, also states that "much of Iraq's CBW arsenal remains intact" and that "it may be regarded as almost certain that Iraq has continued to develop CBW." Baloney.
December 6, 2007
I mean, even the title is bone-chilling (it's a quote from Fritz Haber, commercializer of the Haber nitrogen-fixation process, eerily enough). A great, detailed read on the history of chemical weapons from Yves to today.
March 16, 2010
This is a good read with some very interesting/scary facts throughout. However I did feel after a while you were just reading the same thing over and over, they made these new chemicals but they never used them, they improved them but never really used the.
May 29, 2012
An updated version of a book first published 30 years ago. It's a history which most of us know nothing about, apart from the use of gas in WWI. Crisply written, absorbing.
September 24, 2013
Starts off fascinating,becomes somewhat repetitive and boring,and then finishes with a flourish although quickly sketched out
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