-
Poisoner in Chief
- Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control
- Narrated by: James Linkin
- Length: 12 hrs and 17 mins
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $20.24
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
The Ghost
- The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
- By: Jefferson Morley
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton's dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency's MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew.
-
-
Flawed Superpatriot
- By Bubblehog on 11-23-17
By: Jefferson Morley
-
Chaos
- Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
- By: Tom O'Neill, Dan Piepenbring
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order. Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents.
-
-
Don't fall for the negative reviews...
- By Visualverbs on 08-04-19
By: Tom O'Neill, and others
-
Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
-
-
The Osenberg list
- By Jean on 08-07-14
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Project MK-Ultra
- The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the early days of human warfare, which may date back to the Stone Age, combatants have sought to gain an advantage through the acquisition of secret information. With the growth of technology, a parallel advantage was sought through the application of numerous types of torture. In the 19th century, the concept of manipulation was added to military tactics, an attempt to influence the minds of assassins, double agents, and world leaders alike to act against their natures.
-
-
If you search for it you found it. Get it.
- By Pjones on 08-21-23
-
Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
-
-
Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
The Devil's Chessboard
- Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
- By: David Talbot
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful - and secretive - colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times best seller Brothers.
-
-
Disturbing. Makes you question the company line.
- By KTS on 02-06-16
By: David Talbot
-
The Ghost
- The Secret Life of CIA Spymaster James Jesus Angleton
- By: Jefferson Morley
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Ghost, investigative reporter Jefferson Morley tells Angleton's dramatic story, from his friendship with the poet Ezra Pound through the underground gay milieu of mid-century Washington to the Kennedy assassination to the Watergate scandal. From the agency's MKULTRA mind-control experiments to the wars of the Mideast, Angleton wielded far more power than anyone knew.
-
-
Flawed Superpatriot
- By Bubblehog on 11-23-17
By: Jefferson Morley
-
Chaos
- Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties
- By: Tom O'Neill, Dan Piepenbring
- Narrated by: Kevin Stillwell
- Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Over two grim nights in Los Angeles, the young followers of Charles Manson murdered seven people, including the actress Sharon Tate, then eight months pregnant. With no mercy and seemingly no motive, the Manson Family followed their leader's every order. Twenty years ago, when journalist Tom O'Neill was reporting a magazine piece about the murders, he worried there was nothing new to say. Then he unearthed shocking evidence of a cover-up behind the "official" story, including police carelessness, legal misconduct, and potential surveillance by intelligence agents.
-
-
Don't fall for the negative reviews...
- By Visualverbs on 08-04-19
By: Tom O'Neill, and others
-
Operation Paperclip
- The Secret Intelligence Program that Brought Nazi Scientists to America
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 19 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the chaos following World War II, the US government faced many difficult decisions, including what to do with the Third Reich's scientific minds. These were the brains behind the Nazis' once-indomitable war machine. So began Operation Paperclip, a decades-long, covert project to bring Hitler's scientists and their families to the United States. Many of these men were accused of war crimes, and others had stood trial at Nuremberg; one was convicted of mass murder and slavery.
-
-
The Osenberg list
- By Jean on 08-07-14
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Project MK-Ultra
- The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the early days of human warfare, which may date back to the Stone Age, combatants have sought to gain an advantage through the acquisition of secret information. With the growth of technology, a parallel advantage was sought through the application of numerous types of torture. In the 19th century, the concept of manipulation was added to military tactics, an attempt to influence the minds of assassins, double agents, and world leaders alike to act against their natures.
-
-
If you search for it you found it. Get it.
- By Pjones on 08-21-23
-
Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
-
-
Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
The Devil's Chessboard
- Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
- By: David Talbot
- Narrated by: Peter Altschuler
- Length: 25 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An explosive, headline-making portrait of Allen Dulles, the man who transformed the CIA into the most powerful - and secretive - colossus in Washington, from the founder of Salon.com and author of the New York Times best seller Brothers.
-
-
Disturbing. Makes you question the company line.
- By KTS on 02-06-16
By: David Talbot
-
Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon
- Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops, and the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream
- By: David McGowan
- Narrated by: Bill Fike
- Length: 14 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The very strange but nevertheless true story of the dark underbelly of a 1960s hippie utopia. Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and early 1970s was a magical place where a dizzying array of musical artists congregated to create much of the music that provided the soundtrack to those turbulent times. But there was a dark side to that scene as well. Many didn't make it out alive, and many of those deaths remain shrouded in mystery to this day.
-
-
My first review. This book changed me.
- By Robert on 06-30-19
By: David McGowan
-
The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate"
- The CIA and Mind Control: The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences
- By: John D. Marks
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A "Manchurian Candidate" is an unwitting assassin brainwashed and programmed to kill. In this book, former State Department officer John Marks tells the explosive story of the CIA's highly secret program of experiments in mind control. His curiosity first aroused by information on a puzzling suicide, Marks worked from thousands of pages of newly released documents as well as interviews and behavioral science studies, producing a book that "accomplished what two Senate committees could not" (Senator Edward Kennedy).
-
-
Child CIA Personality and Behavior Experimentee
- By kirstie jones on 06-06-21
By: John D. Marks
-
The True Flag
- Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How should the United States act in the world? Americans cannot decide. Sometimes we burn with righteous anger, launching foreign wars and deposing governments. Then we retreat - until the cycle begins again. No matter how often we debate this question, none of what we say is original. Every argument is a pale shadow of the first and greatest debate, which erupted more than a century ago. Its themes resurface every time Americans argue whether to intervene in a foreign country.
-
-
Timely and important
- By Joshua C. Packard on 02-20-17
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
The Brothers
- John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Foster Dulles was secretary of state while his brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the backdrop ofAmerican culture and history. He uses the framework of biography to ask: Why does the United States behave as it does in the world?
-
-
A duel biography
- By Jean on 09-26-14
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
Legacy of Ashes
- The History of the CIA
- By: Tim Weiner
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 21 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This is the book the CIA does not want you to read. For the last 60 years, the CIA has maintained a formidable reputation in spite of its terrible record, never disclosing its blunders to the American public. It spun its own truth to the nation while reality lay buried in classified archives. Now, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Tim Weiner offers a stunning indictment of the CIA, a deeply flawed organization that has never deserved America's confidence.
-
-
Flawed but Important
- By Michael on 07-18-08
By: Tim Weiner
-
The Real Anthony Fauci
- Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health
- By: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
- Narrated by: Bruce Wagner
- Length: 27 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Real Anthony Fauci details how Fauci, Gates, and their cohorts use their control of media outlets, scientific journals, key government and quasi-governmental agencies, global intelligence agencies, and influential scientists and physicians to flood the public with fearful propaganda about COVID-19 virulence and pathogenesis, and to muzzle debate and ruthlessly censor dissent.
-
-
Could be shorter
- By Evan Snow on 01-03-22
-
Dark Alliance
- The CIA, the Contras, and the Crack Cocaine Explosion
- By: Gary Webb
- Narrated by: Christian Rummel
- Length: 20 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In July 1995, San Jose Mercury-News reporter Gary Webb found the Big One - the blockbuster story every journalist secretly dreams about - without even looking for it. A simple phone call concerning an unexceptional pending drug trial turned into a massive conspiracy involving the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, L.A. and Bay Area crack cocaine dealers, and the Central Intelligence Agency.
-
-
Bigger than You Thought
- By Susie on 04-28-14
By: Gary Webb
-
The Pentagon's Brain
- An Uncensored History of DARPA, America's Top-Secret Military Research Agency
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 18 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Discover the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, in this Pulitzer Prize finalist from the author of the New York Times best seller Area 51. No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen draws on inside sources, exclusive interviews, private documents, and declassified memos to paint a picture of DARPA, or "the Pentagon's brain".
-
-
Scientia Est Potentia/Knowledge is Power
- By Cynthia on 10-08-15
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
Acid Dreams
- The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond
- By: Martin A. Lee, Bruce Shlain
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few events have had a more profound impact on the social and cultural upheavals of the Sixties than the psychedelic revolution spawned by the spread of LSD. This audiobook for the first time tells the full and astounding story - part of it hidden till now in secret Government files - of the role the mind-altering drug played in our recent turbulent history and the continuing influence it has on our time. And what a story it is, beginning with LSD’s discovery in 1943 as the most potent drug known to science.
-
-
Enjoyable but unstructured
- By Miriam on 08-02-14
By: Martin A. Lee, and others
-
Phenomena
- The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis
- By: Annie Jacobsen
- Narrated by: Annie Jacobsen
- Length: 17 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For more than 40 years, the US government has researched extrasensory perception, using it in attempts to locate hostages, fugitives, secret bases, and downed fighter jets, to divine other nations' secrets, and even to predict future threats to national security. The intelligence agencies and military services involved include CIA, DIA, NSA, DEA, the navy, air force, and army - and even the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Now, for the first time, New York Times best-selling author Annie Jacobsen tells the story of these radical, controversial programs.
-
-
Phenomenally mediocre narration of a good book
- By philip on 05-18-17
By: Annie Jacobsen
-
American Prometheus
- The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
- By: Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin
- Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
- Length: 26 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
J. Robert Oppenheimer was one of the iconic figures of the 20th century, a brilliant physicist who led the effort to build the atomic bomb but later confronted the moral consequences of scientific progress. When he proposed international controls over atomic materials, opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb, and criticized plans for a nuclear war, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup during the anti-Communist hysteria of the early 1950s.
-
-
Fantastic book, but one...
- By Ron L. Caldwell on 12-16-07
By: Kai Bird, and others
-
One Nation Under Blackmail, Vol. 1
- The Sordid Union Between Intelligence and Crime that Gave Rise to Jeffrey Epstein
- By: Whitney Alyse Webb
- Narrated by: Grace Noble
- Length: 18 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Volume one of One Nation Under Blackmail traces the origin of the network behind Jeffrey Epstein and his associates to the merging of organized crime and intelligence networks during World War II, following their most notable activities through the decades.
-
-
A must have
- By Steven Gerweck on 04-04-23
Publisher's summary
2019 Amazon.com Best Books of the Year
The best-selling 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 US clandestine operations, draws on new documentary research and original interviews to bring to life one of the most powerful unknown Americans of the 20th 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 22 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.
More from the same
What listeners say about Poisoner in Chief
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- VelvetLedbetter
- 09-20-19
Narration not great
I had to stop listening to this and just read the book, which is excellent. The narrator’s stilted, halting portray of Gottlieb’s stutter was completely unnecessary and, for me, rather annoying.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
25 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Micah D
- 09-17-19
Important Topic, But Not Well Executed
Impressed with Kinzer's interview on NPR, I expected to enjoy this book. After ten minutes, I almost shut it off and returned it. The narration is nearly a satire of the over-the-top delivery of a low-quality cableTV documentary. I persevered because the broad story is interesting. Kinzer writes well, but transitions are marked by narrative hooks that underscore the docu-hype style. Sourcing seems thin, and little new information is presented. Attention to detail is uneven (notorious Dr. Cameron is incorrectly identified as having been president of the "American Psychological Association" rather than the American Psychiatric Association......and yes, they're VERY different). The story has already been told by others. BUT Kinzer is a solid story teller, and this is an okay introduction to an important, complicated history.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MW
- 10-29-19
worst narrator I have ever heard
this is a fascinating book, but the man reading it shouts the entire thing.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Matthew Giampoala
- 10-30-19
The style of narration really took away from the book
The halting cadence of the narration combined with the decision to depict Gottlieb’s stutter were a distraction. I had to listen on double speed. Had somehow expected a little more info on the LSD counterculture based on hearing an interview of the author. Very little of that was covered here. But the main focus was still very interesting.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
10 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 10-29-19
Fascinating book, atrocious narration.
This guy sounds like Dan Aykroyd aping Walter Winchell. Makes it difficult to listen to this very important book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Catherine Trobich
- 04-09-21
Fascinating, difficult listen
A wildly interesting and disturbing tale. I have never left a negative narrator review before - I can listen to almost anyone tell a story as interesting as this. But the faux stutter was distracting, super cringey, and frankly rather offensive. Really wish they hadn’t made that choice, it makes it kinda hard to listen to.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
7 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Amazon Customer
- 11-08-19
Disturbing chronicle of amoral CIA behavior
The history of MK-Ultra and the CIA is deeply disturbing and this recounting of what has finally come to be known about the sordid and outrageous behavior of certain CIA leaders is a shocking warning about what is possible when secrecy is taken beyond the pale. It is also a weird perspective on the mindset of the USA during the late cold war period.
Although the text is a bit on the dry side, the narration is somewhat shocking in its own right. For some reason, the entire text, however encyclopaedic in tone, is delivered much like an Elliot Ness crime expose, in a strident, WWII newsreel voice. I kept wanting to ask Mr. Linkin to relax, take it easy, just read the text. This isn't a novel, and the stentorian tone of the narration is completely out of place, and grew tiring after only a few pages. Not every sentence requires sensationalist emphasis. For some reason, in spite of his hyper-official sounding presentation, Mr. Linkin affected a lurching speech impediment to evoke Sidney Gottlieb's reputed stutter, even when reading Gottlieb's written materials. The book is not even slightly like a dramatization, and character voicings were not only out of place, but oddly conceived. The words of Whitey Bolger are delivered in a "noo yawk" accent, and other personae are strangely pitched or voiced, as if there were some need to present a cast of characters with a full set of (barely differentiatable) speaking styles.
The thing is, this book is factual and procedural, and doesn't benefit from the hype of an overly dramatic reading. It would have been more interesting, more enjoyable, and more believable had it been read in a sober, insightful style.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
6 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Joel
- 10-16-19
Absolutely Essential History
It is almost beyond belief, and it is beyond belief for most people who only learned what they teach in middle school history class. It is such a savage portrait of institutional "evil," and I don't know any better example for this word than what the CIA has done in its covert and fantastically meglomeniachal quests to conquer and puppet the human mind. The book goes through our history developing and testing biological weapons, even testing (supposedly) benign bacteria mass delivery systems as aerosol spray clouds which were launched on San Franciso. The whole culture of the CIA is at times comically "fear and loathing", where they are surprise dosing eachother regularly and coming up with hair brain ideas of how to discredit Castro with serious plans to make his beard fall out by putting thaleum salts in in his shoes, or regularly conducting "experiments" involving lots of sex with hookers and LSD. and at other times their "work" or obsession is absolutely disturbing and defined by procuring people for prolonged torture and experimentation with electroshock and every other method of pharmacological and "interrogation technique" to try to utterly break and replace their very personality and mind and sense of reality as a tool of war. The book shows how in their mad search for this knowledge of ultimate power, to replace, implant and control another's mind, they kill thousands of "easily expendable" people both overseas, (in the korean war for example), as well as at home in the black prisons of Kentucky. This book does a great and thorough job putting this story together in a way that will make you excited, fascinated and morally disgusted all at once. It makes me reflective on just how deceitfully truncated the prescribed narrative of American history is to leave out this deeply revealing chapter of the American portrait.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- CaL Lambert
- 02-08-21
Intolerable narrator
Distracting narrator. His tone of voice was flat and aggressive and the "stutter" was aggravating
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
4 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Darren Gladstone
- 01-09-20
Book?
I'm not sure how I feel about the book itself. The reading sounded like I was being yelled at by a monotone guy with a bite of sandwich in his mouth. If you listen to a sample clip, I assure you, that voice isn't for emphasis; that's how the whole thing sounds.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Kelly
- 08-30-20
Fascinating interesting and informative
I really enjoyed it. The information is disturbing and heavy but If u like lots of detail and information on the world's worst humans you will easily overlook the poor narration and enjoy this audio book. It's an excellent look into the inception of mk ultra & characters behind it as well as lots of their other historic evil deeds.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- John Cowan
- 03-10-23
A great contribution
A good piece telling this important history, which must have been a struggle to research to this degree. I imagine what is presented here is likely the extent of all we'll ever find out for sure about this significant programme, and those in charge of it. I had the feeling the author had impressive self-discipline not to write anything not backed by the facts from his research. Since he's obviously been emersed in this topic for years, I would've been interested in some of his thoughts and speculations but it's probably best he omitted them for the credibility of his work – you won't find information here that directly supports anything in CIA Rogues by Patrick Nolan or Chaos by Tom O'Neill etc., both books which I also enjoyed. Now, the narration is a little balling and yelling at times but it's not as bad as many of the other reviews make out, it seems to me at least. Bare with it. You might have to listen at a slightly lower volume than normal, but I still found myself quickly absorbed in the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- 123
- 02-10-23
Hard to tell
Hard to tell if it’s well written as the schlock doc narration make it almost impossible to listen to this fascinating story.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Tenma13
- 09-28-22
Terrible performance
Narrator is horrific. Adopts a stutter for Gotlib and a terrible female voice. Buy the book.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story

- Gail Seib
- 10-09-19
Quite Frightening
Even after having watched documentaries on MK Ultra this is still a frightening look at the experimentation on humanity of people who have no conscience. I think we all realize this is going on and that programmed assassins exist and people can be poisoned without a trace but this book explores the people who do these things to their fellow humans. Such a good job by Stephen Kinzer at opening our minds and it is very well read by the narrator. I highly recommend this book especially at this current time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Project MK-Ultra
- The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the early days of human warfare, which may date back to the Stone Age, combatants have sought to gain an advantage through the acquisition of secret information. With the growth of technology, a parallel advantage was sought through the application of numerous types of torture. In the 19th century, the concept of manipulation was added to military tactics, an attempt to influence the minds of assassins, double agents, and world leaders alike to act against their natures.
-
-
If you search for it you found it. Get it.
- By Pjones on 08-21-23
-
The True Flag
- Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How should the United States act in the world? Americans cannot decide. Sometimes we burn with righteous anger, launching foreign wars and deposing governments. Then we retreat - until the cycle begins again. No matter how often we debate this question, none of what we say is original. Every argument is a pale shadow of the first and greatest debate, which erupted more than a century ago. Its themes resurface every time Americans argue whether to intervene in a foreign country.
-
-
Timely and important
- By Joshua C. Packard on 02-20-17
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
The Brothers
- John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Foster Dulles was secretary of state while his brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the backdrop ofAmerican culture and history. He uses the framework of biography to ask: Why does the United States behave as it does in the world?
-
-
A duel biography
- By Jean on 09-26-14
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate"
- The CIA and Mind Control: The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences
- By: John D. Marks
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A "Manchurian Candidate" is an unwitting assassin brainwashed and programmed to kill. In this book, former State Department officer John Marks tells the explosive story of the CIA's highly secret program of experiments in mind control. His curiosity first aroused by information on a puzzling suicide, Marks worked from thousands of pages of newly released documents as well as interviews and behavioral science studies, producing a book that "accomplished what two Senate committees could not" (Senator Edward Kennedy).
-
-
Child CIA Personality and Behavior Experimentee
- By kirstie jones on 06-06-21
By: John D. Marks
-
Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
-
-
Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
Acid Dreams
- The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond
- By: Martin A. Lee, Bruce Shlain
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few events have had a more profound impact on the social and cultural upheavals of the Sixties than the psychedelic revolution spawned by the spread of LSD. This audiobook for the first time tells the full and astounding story - part of it hidden till now in secret Government files - of the role the mind-altering drug played in our recent turbulent history and the continuing influence it has on our time. And what a story it is, beginning with LSD’s discovery in 1943 as the most potent drug known to science.
-
-
Enjoyable but unstructured
- By Miriam on 08-02-14
By: Martin A. Lee, and others
-
Project MK-Ultra
- The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program
- By: Charles River Editors
- Narrated by: Colin Fluxman
- Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Since the early days of human warfare, which may date back to the Stone Age, combatants have sought to gain an advantage through the acquisition of secret information. With the growth of technology, a parallel advantage was sought through the application of numerous types of torture. In the 19th century, the concept of manipulation was added to military tactics, an attempt to influence the minds of assassins, double agents, and world leaders alike to act against their natures.
-
-
If you search for it you found it. Get it.
- By Pjones on 08-21-23
-
The True Flag
- Theodore Roosevelt, Mark Twain, and the Birth of American Empire
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How should the United States act in the world? Americans cannot decide. Sometimes we burn with righteous anger, launching foreign wars and deposing governments. Then we retreat - until the cycle begins again. No matter how often we debate this question, none of what we say is original. Every argument is a pale shadow of the first and greatest debate, which erupted more than a century ago. Its themes resurface every time Americans argue whether to intervene in a foreign country.
-
-
Timely and important
- By Joshua C. Packard on 02-20-17
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
The Brothers
- John Foster Dulles, Allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: David Cochran Heath
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
John Foster Dulles was secretary of state while his brother, Allen Dulles, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this book, Stephen Kinzer places their extraordinary lives against the backdrop ofAmerican culture and history. He uses the framework of biography to ask: Why does the United States behave as it does in the world?
-
-
A duel biography
- By Jean on 09-26-14
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate"
- The CIA and Mind Control: The Secret History of the Behavioral Sciences
- By: John D. Marks
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A "Manchurian Candidate" is an unwitting assassin brainwashed and programmed to kill. In this book, former State Department officer John Marks tells the explosive story of the CIA's highly secret program of experiments in mind control. His curiosity first aroused by information on a puzzling suicide, Marks worked from thousands of pages of newly released documents as well as interviews and behavioral science studies, producing a book that "accomplished what two Senate committees could not" (Senator Edward Kennedy).
-
-
Child CIA Personality and Behavior Experimentee
- By kirstie jones on 06-06-21
By: John D. Marks
-
Overthrow
- America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"Regime change" did not begin with the administration of George W. Bush, but has been an integral part of U.S. foreign policy for more than one hundred years. Starting with the overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy in 1893 and continuing through the Spanish-American War and the Cold War and into our own time, the United States has not hesitated to overthrow governments that stood in the way of its political and economic goals.
-
-
Looking at the dark side
- By Stanley on 08-02-06
By: Stephen Kinzer
-
Acid Dreams
- The Complete Social History of LSD: The CIA, the Sixties, and Beyond
- By: Martin A. Lee, Bruce Shlain
- Narrated by: Oliver Wyman
- Length: 14 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few events have had a more profound impact on the social and cultural upheavals of the Sixties than the psychedelic revolution spawned by the spread of LSD. This audiobook for the first time tells the full and astounding story - part of it hidden till now in secret Government files - of the role the mind-altering drug played in our recent turbulent history and the continuing influence it has on our time. And what a story it is, beginning with LSD’s discovery in 1943 as the most potent drug known to science.
-
-
Enjoyable but unstructured
- By Miriam on 08-02-14
By: Martin A. Lee, and others
-
Reset
- Iran, Turkey, and America's Future
- By: Stephen Kinzer
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall