In 1915, German forces executed the first successful gas attack of World War I, igniting an arms race that would redefine a war already characterized by lethal developments in technology. Documenting how the war spiraled into a chemists' duel, Theo Emery introduces the American engineers known as the "Hellfire Boys." Racing against the clock (and Germany's best chemists), these brilliant sought to protect Allied soldiers and unleash their own weapons of mass destruction.