Theo Emery

Author of Hellfire Boys

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Lewisite, “Our Super-Poison Gas”

  • George Lewis homestead near Gridley, California. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • West Liberty School, Gridley, California. W. Lee Lewis is in the front row on the left. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • Faculty baseball team at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. W. Lee Lewis is 3rd from the right. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • W. Lee Lewis, sitting at center, with chemistry students at Morningside College, Sioux City, Iowa, in 1905. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • W. Lee Lewis teaching chemistry class at Morningside College, 1905. Myrtilla Cook, his future wife, is seated in the last row. second from right. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • W. Lee Lewis in uniform, photographed prior to departure to Washington, DC, to work at the American University Experiment Station. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • Official photo of W. Lee Lewis. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • Maloney Lab at Catholic University, Washington, DC. Catholic, like American University, turned over its campus to the federal government during the war. Lewis, dissatisfied with conditions at American, decamped to Catholic, where Organic Unit #3 discovered the chemical compound that would become known as lewisite. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • Enlisted men at Catholic University in 1918. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • Enlisted men drilling at at Catholic University in 1918. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • Organic Unit #3 at Maloney Hall at Catholic University. This photo was probably taken after the discovery of lewisite. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • Small scale experimental apparatus for creating lewisite, on the roof of Maloney Lab. The experiments with lewisite proved so dangerous and the substance so toxic that experiments were moved outdoors for safety reasons. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
  • New York Times article about lewisite from April 20, 1919, entitled "Our Super-Poison Gas: First Story of Compound 72 Times More Deadly than "Mustard," Manufactured Secretly by the Thousands of Tons."
  • Photo of W. Lee Lewis in 1937. Lewis died in 1943. (Photo courtesy of L. Philip Reiss, grandson of W. Lee Lewis)
"Though squarely a crackling history, “Hellfire Boys” is also a relevant primer on the past 100 years and on a kind of total warmaking that continues to haunt us — sometimes from another hemisphere, sometimes in our own back yard....Emery’s reporting is vast and meticulous, and his storytelling is focused and clean."

―WASHINGTON POST

2017-12-29T03:11:48+00:00

―WASHINGTON POST

"Though squarely a crackling history, “Hellfire Boys” is also a relevant primer on the past 100 years and on a kind of total warmaking that continues to haunt us — sometimes from another hemisphere, sometimes in our own back yard....Emery’s reporting is vast and meticulous, and his storytelling is focused and clean."
https://www.theoemery.com/testimonials/washington-post/
"Moving crisply between stateside turf wars and battlefront combat, this well-written and well-researched slice of history will appeal to virtually any history or war buff." (Starred review)

―LIBRARY JOURNAL

2017-11-03T23:34:11+00:00

―LIBRARY JOURNAL

"Moving crisply between stateside turf wars and battlefront combat, this well-written and well-researched slice of history will appeal to virtually any history or war buff." (Starred review)
https://www.theoemery.com/testimonials/library-journal/
"Refusing to allow our modern revulsion of chemical weapons (however well-founded) to shape his extraordinary narrative, Emery—like all good historians—is determined to let the era of his subject speak for itself."

―HAMPTON SIDES, New York Times bestselling author of In the Kingdom of Ice, Ghost Soldiers, Hellhound on His Trail, and Blood and Thunder

2017-10-09T20:38:16+00:00

―HAMPTON SIDES, New York Times bestselling author of In the Kingdom of Ice, Ghost Soldiers, Hellhound on His Trail, and Blood and Thunder

"Refusing to allow our modern revulsion of chemical weapons (however well-founded) to shape his extraordinary narrative, Emery—like all good historians—is determined to let the era of his subject speak for itself."
https://www.theoemery.com/testimonials/hampton-sides/
"A fascinating and deeply researched account of how America reinvented its military—and itself—in its first modern global war. Theo Emery combines science, history, and character-driven drama to illuminate some of the darkest aspects of our national past."

―BEVERLY GAGE, author of The Day Wall Street Exploded and Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University

2017-10-09T20:37:06+00:00

―BEVERLY GAGE, author of The Day Wall Street Exploded and Professor of History and American Studies at Yale University

"A fascinating and deeply researched account of how America reinvented its military—and itself—in its first modern global war. Theo Emery combines science, history, and character-driven drama to illuminate some of the darkest aspects of our national past."
https://www.theoemery.com/testimonials/beverly-gage/
"Even military buffs will learn from this intensely researched, often unnerving account.... Readers will share Emery's lack of nostalgia for this half-forgotten weapon, but they will admire this satisfying combination of technical background, battlefield fireworks, biographies of colorful major figures, and personal anecdotes from individual soldiers."

―KIRKUS

2017-10-09T20:36:29+00:00

―KIRKUS

"Even military buffs will learn from this intensely researched, often unnerving account.... Readers will share Emery's lack of nostalgia for this half-forgotten weapon, but they will admire this satisfying combination of technical background, battlefield fireworks, biographies of colorful major figures, and personal anecdotes from individual soldiers."
https://www.theoemery.com/testimonials/kirkus/
"Journalist Emery offers a useful and absorbing reminder that, a century earlier, it was a different weapon of mass destruction that terrified both soldiers and civilians... This is a timely and often unsettling examination of a previously well-hidden government program."

―BOOKLIST

2017-10-09T20:36:05+00:00

―BOOKLIST

"Journalist Emery offers a useful and absorbing reminder that, a century earlier, it was a different weapon of mass destruction that terrified both soldiers and civilians... This is a timely and often unsettling examination of a previously well-hidden government program."
https://www.theoemery.com/testimonials/booklist/

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