Camp Concentration

by Thomas M. Disch · 1968

In a near‑future where a senseless nuclear‑biological war threatens humanity, the U.S. military turns to a desperate, unethical experiment. Poet‑pacifist Louis Sacchetti, jailed for refusing to fight guerrillas in the Third World, is among a handful of political prisoners confined in an impregnable underground redoubt. Scientists infect them with a mutated bacterium designed to super‑charge their intellect to genius levels—only to seal their fate, as the same pathogen inevitably leads to rapid decay and death. As the inmates grapple with newfound brilliance and the looming end of their lives, the novel explores the terrifying cost of sacrificing humanity for power, and the fragile line between enlightenment and annihilation.