Customer Reviews

Dew of Death: The Story of Lewisite, America's World War I Weapon of Mass Destruction

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Joel Vilensky has written an extremely well researched book on the frantic development of Lewisite during the waning days of World War I. Although Lewisite was never used by the United States in any armed conflict including and after WW I, its legacy as a weapon of mass distruction continues to the present. At the conclusion of WW I, Lewisite was touted by the United States as the most significant weapon of the era. In this respect it is analogous to the Atomic Bomb of WW II. War history buffs, and the general reader, will be intrigued with this fascinating story.

Phil Reiss

The improbable story of a weapon of mass destruction discovered by a student, who was also a priest, at The Catholic University of America (CUA) in Washington, DC. It was later tested and mass produced by the military in World War I, too late for service in that war, but used by the Japanese in the 1930s and Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. This topic continues to create queries for the staff of the university archives of The Catholic University and is a never ending point of irony in CUA's institutional memory.

I found this an interesting book. I felt that the author could have held back some of his personal opinions on the more recent issues at American University but they did not significantly detract from his presentation of a significant research effort.