Synopsis
The life story of a preeminent American artillery scientist divulges the nature of his undercover dealings with South Africa and Iraq before his murder in March of 1990. 20,000 first printing. $20,000 ad/promo. Tour.
Reviews
A stranger-than-fiction briefing on the lawless career of an eminent, if erratic, artillery scientist whose violent death at 62 in 1990 rocked the armament trade's shadowy world. Drawing on information from family, friends, business associates, and his own contacts, plus documentary sources, London journalist Adams (Engines of War, 1990, etc.) compiles a detailed dossier on Gerald Bull. A naturalized American citizen born in Canada, the precocious Bull earned a Ph.D. in aerodynamics at Toronto University. As the youngest tenured member of McGill's engineering faculty, he headed HARP (High Altitude Research Project), a binational inquiry into the possibility of using long- barreled guns rather than rockets to launch satellites. Embittered when government funding ended the program, Bull formed Space Research Corp. and began peddling his ballistics expertise in offshore markets. South Africa (then an international pariah because of apartheid) quickly became an SRC client. This illicit commercial relationship (facilitated by Israel and the CIA) put the inventive genius in violation of US embargo law, and he served time in a Club Fed. Once out of prison, Bull moved a new SRC operation to Brussels, where he toiled in relative obscurity for mainland China. In time, his ordnance talents attracted the attention of Saddam Hussein. Bull furnished Baghdad with a wealth of innovative projectiles and howitzers; at the time of his murder, he was working on a supergun that, in theory, could bombard objectives thousands of miles down range and/or boost spacecraft with reconnaissance capabilities into earth orbits. Adams makes a fine job of accounting for the character quirks and socioeconomic forces that turned an enthusiastic, essentially apolitical boffin into a cynical supplier of advanced weapons systems--and into the target of assassins. Having reviewed such circumstantial evidence as is available, moreover, he concludes that the hit men who killed Bull at the door of his Brussels apartment most likely were Israelis. An engrossing tale of geopolitical intrigue and treachery. (Photos--16 pp.--not seen.) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Adams, the defense correspondent for The Sunday Times of London, has written a fascinating and readable book. He takes an in-depth look at the life of Gerald Bull, the brilliant Canadian-born artillery scientist and weapons designer who was instrumental in the development of South Africa's G5 howitzer; he also was the inventor of the "supergun" that he tried to smuggle into Iraq. Adams traces the development of Bull's professional career, his early involvement with the CIA, and his later freelancing that led him to offer his services to Saddam Hussein. The author also delves into possible motives and an array of suspects behind the March 1990 assassination of Bull in his apartment in Belgium. This book reads like a thrilling spy novel and is highly recommended for public libraries.
- Nader Entessar, Spring Hill Coll., Mobile, Ala.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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