Project Mind Control

Sidney Gottlieb, the CIA, and the Tragedy of MKULTRA

De: John Lisle

Narrado por: Pete Cross

The inside story of the CIA’s secret mind control project, MKULTRA, using never-before-seen testimony from the perpetrators themselves.

Sidney Gottlieb was the CIA’s most cunning chemist. As head of the infamous MKULTRA project, he oversaw an assortment of dangerous—even deadly—experiments. Among them: dosing unwitting strangers with mind-bending drugs, torturing mental patients through sensory deprivation, and steering the movements of animals via electrodes implanted into their brains. His goal was to develop methods of mind control that could turn someone into a real-life “Manchurian candidate.”

In conjunction with MKULTRA, Gottlieb also plotted the assassination of foreign leaders and created spy gear for undercover agents. The details of his career, however, have long been shrouded in mystery. Upon retiring from the CIA in 1973, he tossed his files into an incinerator. As a result, much of what happened under MKULTRA was thought to be lost—until now.

Historian John Lisle has uncovered dozens of depositions containing new information about MKULTRA, straight from the mouths of its perpetrators. For the first time, Gottlieb and his underlings divulge what they did, why they did it, how they got away with it, and much more. Additionally, Lisle highlights the dramatic story of MKULTRA’s victims, from their terrible treatment to their dogged pursuit of justice.

The consequences of MKULTRA still reverberate throughout American society. Project Mind Control is the definitive account of this most disturbing of chapters in CIA history.

"Listeners will be transfixed"—AudioFile on The Dirty Tricks Department

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press.

©2025 John Lisle (P)2025 Macmillan Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Enthralling … a stark portrait of horrifying government abuse.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“Readers are shown how distressingly easy it is for normally decent people to justify heinous acts in the name of patriotism, an idea that has resonance in the present day. Lisle’s account can be read on multiple levels, from true-life spy thriller to dark history, from which vital lessons can be drawn, but it's unsettling on any level.”—Booklist

Riveting and shocking

I got this book after watching John Lisle being interviewed on a podcast (I'm not mentioning which one because I shouldn't promote a product, but just search "John Lisle" where you watch podcasts.) He was great on the show, but there are ten times more revelations in this book.

John Lisle is a history professor and sticks to what he can document --the print edition has a big bibliography. Dispite that constraint, he has managed to tell a suspenseful tale of the psychopathic career of Sydney Gottlieb. Just when you think Gottlieb couldn't think of another way to conduct immoral experiments on Americans, there is something more! It's as if you're looking into Gottlieb's head. If you like nonfiction and spy novels, this is a must read.

Presentation of facts

The story is presented solely with facts, but the facts are so mind boggling that It sounds fictional. Eye opening and we'll delivered story

the best biography of Sidney Gottlieb

While this book offers an excellent overview of Project MKUltra — as well as the related programs that preceded and followed it — its primary focus, much like other works on the subject, remains on Sidney Gottlieb. What sets it apart, however, is its inclusion of actual dialogues taken directly from court transcripts, lending an immediacy and authenticity that many other accounts lack.