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Shop nowKill Chain
This audiobook uses AI narration.
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Learn moreThis essential, page-turning narrative on the history of drone warfare by the acclaimed author of Rumsfeld explores how this practice emerged, who made it happen, and the real consequences of targeted killing.
Assassination by drone is a subject of deep and enduring fascination, yet few understand how and why it has become our principal way of waging war. Kill Chain uncovers the real and extraordinary story of drone warfare—its origins in long-buried secret programs, the breakthroughs which made drone operations possible, the ways in which the technology works, and, despite official claims, does not work.
Taking the listener inside the well-guarded world of national security, the book reveals the powerful interests—military, CIA, and corporate—that have led the drive to kill individuals by remote control. Most importantly of all, the book describes what has really happened when the theories underpinning the strategy—and the multibillion dollar contracts they spawn—have been put to the test.
Drawing on sources deep within the military and intelligence establishments, Andrew Cockburn’s Kill Chain unveils the true effects, as demonstrated by bloody experience, of assassination warfare—a revelation that readers will find surprising and shocking.
Andrew Cockburn is the Washington editor of Harper’s and the author of many articles and books on national security, including the New York Times Editor’s Choice Rumsfeld and The Threat. He is a regular opinion contributor to the Los Angeles Times and has written for, among others, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, National Geographic, and the London Review of Books.
Malcolm Hillgartner is an accomplished actor, writer, and musician. Named an AudioFile Best Voice of 2013 and the recipient of several Earphones Awards, he has narrated over 175 audiobooks.
Reviews
“A blood-curdling account of the rise of robot warfare, a great story, and a prophecy to be read and heeded.”
“Cockburn pulls back the camera to provide a wider historical perspective, setting the policy of targeted killing via drones within the larger context of the American military-industrial complex…[and] carries the torch of the antiwar crusade into current debates.”
“A fascinating book…a revelatory, must-read account of drones and killing from the air.”
“Cockburn is a crackerjack writer…He draws a high-resolution picture of vested interests (kickbacks, egos, along with Raytheon, Lockheed, Northrop, Hughes, General Dynamics, Booz Allen, and company), leading us down the garden path…The military’s strategy is a failure.”
“An informative and easy-to-read book for those interested in this hot topic. Perhaps a drone will drop it off at your front door.”
“Cockburn admirably explains the strategies, intentions, and emotions that continue to surround the program.”
“A report that is both enlivening and terribly troubling.”
“An examination of the rise of the present generation of killing machines, antiseptic and seemingly inescapable…Sharp-eyed and disturbing, especially Cockburn’s concluding assessment that, nourished by an unending flow of money, ‘the assassination machine is here to stay.’”
“Richly informative, superbly researched, and utterly illuminating.”
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