Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159715 in Books
• Published on: 1991-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 264 pages

Customer Reviews

The historical background of the 'Manchurian Candidate'
This book is an excellent book on the history on human experimentation in North-America and the involvement of the CIA into this research. The starting point of this research was already before the Korean war, but it became linked to this war in the sense that the American public was confronted with confesions of thousands of American prisoners of war in the hand of the communist governments in China and North-Korea. As these confessions were false, it was natural to ask how they were obtained. The search for methods to control the mind and to extract the truth from prisoners were justified with these incidents and concerntrated on hypnosis, drugs (in particular LSD) and to a minor degree also implants in or near to the brain. Although a careful questioning of the returned prisoners of war and defected communist interrogators showed that these advanced methods had not been behind the mass confessions, the research continued and many people were harmed within the framework of this research. The Canadian researcher Cameron imposed on his patients the most radical methods through isolation and heavy medication for months and with the result that the patients losts decades of their long term memory and often had to relearn merely everything they had learnt before in life. The wide spread experimentation with LSD at leading US-American universities might have popularized this drug into the academic world and might be one of the causes for its abuse in the decades to come. Also the case of CIA-researcher Frank Olson is discussed, but the information in this book might be outdated as contemporary publications based on an autopsy indicate that he was actually directly murdered by the CIA and that the publically admitted LSD-explantations were only a part of the cover-up of this case. The book is based on documents declassified by the CIA and the author has done a great job in making this knowlege accessible to the general public. It is certainly worth to read about this subject beyond the here given short summary. To a certain degree, the findings of the author are parallel to the setting of the book "The Manchurian Candidate": although mind control did not originate from the USA, it was used by scientists and politicians in the USA for their purposes and new victims were added to those it had inh other countries. A sad case mentioned in the book is that of the Soviet KGB-defector Yuri Nosenko who brought valuable information to the CIA but was kept three years in isolation in a CIA prison under Soviet-style reeducation-conditions as his CIA-supervisors did not trust him. But besides all criticism, it should be acknowledged that it was the tradition of an open society with its "Freedom of Information Act" which made this book possible.

Required reading for every American
I'd recommend Search for the Manchurian Candidate to every American over high school age so that they may learn from these abuses. While John Marks bases his book on declassified documents that cannot be challenged, few if anyone in the mainstream media ever discuss these things. This fact clearly illustrates the degree of political corruption and major coverups that take place in our so called 'free press'.

Manchurian Candidate lists the CIA's use of prostitutes in luring unsuspecting 'johns' to CIA run brothels so that our intelligence community may monitor the affects of large doses of LSD given to these men without their knowledge. The CIA would also routinely give LSD to one another in order to monitor it's affects. Unfortunately this resulted in the death of CIA agent Frank Olsen who reportedly committed suicide after having an unexpected 'bad trip'. In classic CIA fashion, they tried to cover up his death and denied all wrongdoing. While the truth eventually came out, one has to wonder about the depths of their illegal activities we have yet realize.

While the book is highly detailed and well documented, it only scratches the surface as to how far our intelligence community will go in engaging in illegal activities. Overall it's a great book and I'd recommend it as a starting point for those who are unfamiliar with our government's ongoing MK-ULTRA program. For a more detailed (and disturbing) account of government sponsored mind control, I'd suggest A Nation Betrayed by Carol Rutz.

The CIA's Experiments in Mind Control.
If both the past and the external world exist only in the mind, and if the mind itself is controllable - what then? - George Orwell from _1984_.

_The Search for the "Manchurian Candidate": The CIA and Mind Control_ by John Marks published in 1979 is a somewhat dated account of the CIA's experiments in mind control. Marks obtained much of his material from documents released through the Freedom of Information Act; however, he had to actively pursue these documents and was involved in a lawsuit against the CIA in order to obtain much of his material. He notes that without the release of this material his research would not have been possible.

The author begins by noting the influence of World War II and Nazi science on subsequent investigations by the CIA, formerly the OSS. In particular, the discovery of the hallucinogenic (psychedelic) drug LSD by Albert Hofman of the Sandoz drug company in Basle, Switzerland was to play a central role in the coming experimental "science" of mind manipulation. The author outlines various sadistic experiments performed by the Nazi scientists and doctors on unwitting prisoners and explains how the Nuremburg Code developed. The author also explains the role of the intelligence operatives in the Second World War, including experiments with marijuana as a supposed truth drug, a whole arsenal of dirty tricks and assassination projects, and the attempt to psychoanalyse Adolf Hitler. Indeed, after the war, the intelligence community captured the surviving research by the Nazi scientists and attempted to sort through it for any scientific value it might have had. Next, the author turns his attention to the development of the Cold War, the subsequent paranoia that ensued over such alleged brainwashing as the case of Cardinal Mindszenty and the Moscow Show Trials, and the creation of the Central Intelligence Agency. The author shows how various projects including Projects BLUEBIRD and ARTICHOKE came to include mind manipulation technology, emphasizing the polygraph machine and hypnosis. The author next turns his attention to the experiments of G. Richard Wendt, who attempted to devise a truth serum as part of his "A" (for ARTICHOKE) treatment. The author also discusses the role of LSD, often given to unwitting experimental subjects as part of Project MK-ULTRA by the CIA and its role in the death of the scientist Dr. Frank Olson. As part of the CIA's experiments with LSD, Dr. Sid Gottlieb tested the drug on unknowing subjects including Olson. Later Olson was to develop signs of paranoia and depression, eventually leading him to jump to his death from a New York building. Olson's death was covered up by the CIA; however, it was later revealed that an allergist (who also experimented with LSD) had been treating him for depression (ironically!). The author next turns his attention to the development of various "safe houses" in San Francisco, run by the narcotics officer George White. White tried to develop techniques for turning enemy agents by using prostitutes. White also experimented heavily with LSD, marijuana, and other drugs on unknowing subjects. He frequently held lavish parties and then would spray LSD into the room through an aerosol spray and watch the effects of the drug from a post outside the room. Needless to say, White's experiments represent the ultimate in unethical experimentation with drugs as well as hypocrisy because White would frequently turn in common citizens to the police for possession of drugs. The author next turns his attention to the Mexican hallucinogenic mushroom and its role in the development of the 1960s counter-culture. Here, the author explains the theories of R. Gordon Wasson, an investment banker, who co-authored the book _Mushrooms, Russia and History_ with his wife Valentina Wasson about the role of the hallucinogenic mushroom in culture and religion. The author next turns his attention to brainwashing. Here, the author notes the role of the CIA in promulgating the theory of brainwashing, but also in attempting to create brainwashed subjects. The author also devotes his attention to "human ecology". Here, the author notes the unethical nature of various experiments on sensory deprivation in the CIA's efforts to depattern a subject. The author shows how the notion of a "terminal experiment" (i.e. an experiment that pushed a human being to their outer limits with no ethical strings attached) was developed by the CIA and was used to justify extreme experiments in sensory deprivation. The author also discusses the role of personality research including the Gittinger Assessment System of John Gittinger. Here, the author shows how Gittinger used his research in an attempt to control subjects based on their personality type as determined by his system. Finally, the author turns his attention to hypnosis. Hypnosis was used in the hope of creating the "Manchurian candidate", a perfect mind control assassin. This concept had developed out of a novel by Richard Condon where the Chinese communists had brainwashed an American soldier. It was believed that soldiers returning from a certain area in Manchuria had no memory of what had happened there, leading to the idea that the Chinese were brainwashing Americans. It should be noted that not all people are equally hypnotizable; however, the CIA believed that by developing the personality of a childhood playmate they could induce multiple personalities in an agent, thereby creating an effective mind control assassin. The author ends this book by noting the importance of the search for truth, particularly as it involves unethical experimentation on United States citizens by its own government.

This book offers compelling evidence regarding the CIA's role in mind manipulation. For all those who care about the future freedom of the human mind it is important to understand what has been done in the past and continues to be done in the name of research to justify covert operations.