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.