Poisoner in Chief | Stephen Kinzer

Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control | Stephen Kinzer

How did a mild-mannered government scientist become the mastermind behind MK-Ultra and illegal mind control experiments? Stephen Kinzer investigates the depths.

About the Book:

The bestselling author of All the Shah’s Men and The Brothers tells the astonishing story of the man who oversaw the CIA’s secret drug and mind-control experiments of the 1950s and ’60s.

The visionary chemist Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s master magician and gentlehearted torturer—the agency’s “poisoner in chief.”

As head of the MK-ULTRA mind control project, he directed brutal experiments at secret prisons on three continents.

He made pills, powders, and potions that could kill or maim without a trace—including some intended for Fidel Castro and other foreign leaders.

He paid prostitutes to lure clients to CIA-run bordellos, where they were secretly dosed with mind-altering drugs. His experiments spread LSD across the United States, making him a hidden godfather of the 1960s counterculture.

For years he was the chief supplier of spy tools used by CIA officers around the world.

Stephen Kinzer, author of groundbreaking books about U.S. clandestine operations, draws on new documentary research and original interviews to bring to life one of the most powerful unknown Americans of the twentieth century.

Gottlieb’s reckless experiments on “expendable” human subjects destroyed many lives, yet he considered himself deeply spiritual.

He lived in a remote cabin without running water, meditated, and rose before dawn to milk his goats.

During his twenty-two years at the CIA, Gottlieb worked in the deepest secrecy.

Only since his death has it become possible to piece together his astonishing career at the intersection of extreme science and covert action.

Poisoner in Chief reveals him as a clandestine conjurer on an epic scale.

Summary:

Secret experiments, hallucinogenic drugs, and cold war paranoia. Stephen Kinzer exposes the dark history of CIA chemist Sidney Gottlieb in Poisoner in Chief.

Frequently Asked Questions About Poisoner in Chief:

• Q: Is this book a fictional spy novel or an authorized historical biography?
  A: This is an independent, non-fiction work of investigative history and biography. It uncovers the deeply classified life and career of Sidney Gottlieb, an enigmatic government chemist who operated in extreme anonymity for decades.
• Q: What unique credentials and authority does the author bring to this subject?
  A: The book is written by Stephen Kinzer, an acclaimed historian, academic, and veteran foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is globally celebrated for his groundbreaking, archival research into covert United States operations, including his prior books All the Shah's Men and The Brothers.
• Q: What specific historical government operation forms the center of the book?
  A: The narrative delivers a definitive, dark exploration of Project MK-ULTRA—the notorious, top-secret Cold War mind-control program run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the 1950s and 1960s.
• Q: What kind of clandestine operations and human experiments did Sidney Gottlieb direct?
  A: As the head of MK-ULTRA, Gottlieb oversaw brutal psychological and chemical experiments on "expendable" human subjects across three continents. The book exposes his creation of untraceable poisons used in assassination plots against foreign leaders like Fidel Castro, his funding of CIA-run bordellos to secretly drug citizens, and how his massive institutional distribution of LSD accidentally birthed the 1960s American counterculture.
• Q: How does the text balance Gottlieb’s horrifying work with his personal life?
  A: The biography heavily studies a fascinating, terrifying psychological paradox. Kinzer contrasts Gottlieb’s role as the agency's brutal torturer against his private life as a deeply spiritual, gentle nature lover who lived in a remote cabin without running water, meditated daily, and woke before dawn to milk his goats.

About the Author:

Stephen Kinzer: American Author & Historian

Stephen Kinzer is the author of many books, including The True Flag, The Brothers, Overthrow, and All the Shah’s Men. An award-winning foreign correspondent, he served as the New York Times bureau chief in Nicaragua, Germany, and Turkey. He is a senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University, and writes a world affairs column for the Boston Globe.

He lives in Boston.

Bibliographic Data:

• Full Title: Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control
• Author(s): Stephen Kinzer
• Publisher & Imprint: St. Martin's Griffin (An imprint of St. Martin's Publishing Group / Macmillan)
• Publication Date: November 10, 2020 (Original hardcover published September 2019)
• Binding Format: Trade Paperback
• Condition: Pre-Owned / Very Good
• Edition: Reprint / Trade Paperback Edition
• Print Length: 384 Pages
• Language: English
• ISBN-13: 9781250762627
• ISBN-10: 1250762626
• Library of Congress (LCCN): 2019014131
• Primary Genre (BISAC): HISTORY / United States / 20th Century
• Sub-Genres (BISAC): TRUE CRIME / Historical; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Intelligence & Espionage; HISTORY / Modern / 20th Century / General
• Dimensions: 5.38 x 0.99 x 8.25 inches
• Weight: 11.2 oz (approx. 0.70 lbs)

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