Science writer Heather Pringle recounts the fascinating story of the Ahnenerbe, the secretive Nazi think tank commissioned by Heinrich Himmler to investigate the anthropological and cultural history of the German race. Employed as the research arm of the SS, the Ahnenerbe trumped up scholarly «evidence» of Aryan supremacy that was subsequently used to justify the Final Solution. Based on extensive research and interviews with surviving members of this pseudoscientific enclave, Pringle's chilling account sheds new light on a dark and sinister chapter in history.