A Higher Form of Killing: The Secret History of Chemical and Biological Warfare

A Higher Form of Killing opens with the first devastating battlefield use of lethal gas in World War I, and then investigates the stockpiling of biological weapons during World War II and in the decades afterward as well as the inhuman experiments con-ducted to test their effectiveness. This updated edition includes a new Introduction and a new final chapter exposing frightening developments in recent years, including the black market that emerged in chemical and biological weapons following the breakup of the Soviet Union, the acquisition of these weapons by various Third World states, the attempts of countries such as Iraq to build up arsenals, and--particularly and most recently--the use of these weapons in terrorist attacks.

Robert Harris is the author of the bestselling novels Fatherland, Enigma, and Archangel, as well as a number of nonfiction books. He lives in Berkshire, England, with his wife and children.

Jeremy Paxman reporter for Britain in mid-1970s Northern Ireland before joining Panorama. Assignments have taken him from Beirut to Uganda to Zimbabwe. A Higher Form of Killing is his first book.