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J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets Paperback – February 17, 2001
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"The cumulative effect is overwhelming. Eleanor Roosevelt was right: Hoover’s FBI was an American gestapo." ―Newsweek
Shocking, grim, frightening, Curt Gentry’s masterful portrait of America’s top policeman is a unique political biography. From more than 300 interviews and over 100,000 pages of previously classified documents, Gentry reveals exactly how a paranoid director created the fraudulent myth of an invincible, incorruptible FBI. For almost fifty years, Hoover held virtually unchecked public power, manipulating every president from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Richard Nixon. He kept extensive blackmail files and used illegal wiretaps and hidden microphones to destroy anyone who opposed him. The book reveals how Hoover helped create McCarthyism, blackmailed the Kennedy brothers, and influenced the Supreme Court; how he retarded the civil rights movement and forged connections with mobsters; as well as insight into the Watergate scandal and what part he played in the investigations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. 32 pages of photographs- Print length848 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
- Publication dateFebruary 17, 2001
- Dimensions6.2 x 1.6 x 9.3 inches
- ISBN-100393321282
- ISBN-13978-0393321289
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Editorial Reviews
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About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (February 17, 2001)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 848 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0393321282
- ISBN-13 : 978-0393321289
- Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.2 x 1.6 x 9.3 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #403,355 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #384 in Law Enforcement Biographies
- #650 in United States Executive Government
- #3,083 in United States Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
![Curt Gentry](http://web.archive.org./web/20240826171404im_/https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/01Kv-W2ysOL._SY600_.png)
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Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book a good read with insightful content. They also say it's a little long and not enough gossip about what was in the files. Opinions are mixed on the writing style, with some finding it well-researched and compelling, while others say it’s too wordy and full of filler text.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the book very insightful, detailed, and thorough. They also say it gives the basics on Hoover's life and is convincing. Readers also describe the book as interesting and well documented.
"...It is, however, a convincing one. For many decades J. Edgar Hoover exercised complete control over the FBI...." Read more
"This is one of the most detailed, well-written, scholarly biographies that I have ever read...." Read more
"...But the book is well researched and well written and informative." Read more
"Very detailed and well researched. Hoover spied on Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents...." Read more
Customers find the book a good read, worth the effort, and a well-written narrative. They also say it's an amazing life.
"...No one dared look into any of this.This is a useful and important book because it illustrates the fact that the Government can and does..." Read more
"This book is very well written and worth the time to read it...." Read more
"...Great book - highly recommended!" Read more
"...It is an amazing life--odd, exceptionally diligent and exceptionally devious as well...." Read more
Customers have mixed opinions about the writing style. Some find the book very well written, beautiful, and convincing. Others however, find it too wordy, tedious, and detailed.
"...By the way, this is a very well-written piece that is very readable. Recommended. RJB." Read more
"It was laden with names & facts about Hoover. It was kinda a tedious read." Read more
"This book is very well written and worth the time to read it...." Read more
"This is one of the most detailed, well-written, scholarly biographies that I have ever read...." Read more
Customers find the book a little long.
"...The book is long and parts came be skipped over but the main impression you are left with is the uncanny ability of hoover to manipulate the..." Read more
"Very long book, but learned a lot of what went on during those times." Read more
"A little long and not enough gossip about what was in the files but overall a very insightful book. Worth reading!!" Read more
"informative, but too long and too detailed . Lots of good inside knowledge...." Read more
Customers find the book takes forever to advance pages.
"...could have been left out because there were definitely sections that were painfully slow...." Read more
"My boyfriend and I have both finished this book. It is a slow read but thoroughly enjoyable...." Read more
"takes forever to advance pages.this is my second time with this complaint. please return the price to my account. I am totally bround=off!" Read more
"Too wordy and full of filler text. takes forever to get the storyline in focus. only worth the price if it were free." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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Presidents feared Hoover and no Congressman or Senator cared or dared to take him on. There was no upside in it. Everyone knew that Hoover had compiled dossiers on tens of thousands of American citizens, especially its democratically elected officials. And the FBI was fantastically willing to leak embarrassing dirt on Hoover's enemies. Countless politicians who crossed Hoover, and many who did not, were destroyed by such FBI leaks. Many in the press acted in concert with Hoover and published these leaks in exchange for receiving such exclusives from the FBI. None of this was either Constitutional or good government. Presidents, attorney generals, and Congressmen and Senators came and went, but Hoover stayed in place, growing his power with each decade. This was not a good thing.
This piece also details that Hoover himself was corrupt. Each year he took a three week "nonvacation" at public expense in Florida, living the high life with his "companion," Deputy FBI Director Clyde Tolson. FBI agents were employed to ghostwrite several books ostensibly written by Hoover from which he personally profited. No one dared look into any of this.
This is a useful and important book because it illustrates the fact that the Government can and does ignore the Constitution in a big way when governmental processes go awry. In Hoover's FBI we had one man work his way into a position in which he was able to thwart the usual checks and balances in the American governmental system to the nation's infinite harm. There is much evidence that the FBI has reformed and is now more of a "normal" governmental agency. Many readers will never view the FBI in quite the same way after reading this piece. By the way, this is a very well-written piece that is very readable. Recommended. RJB.
The author is selective in his objection to Hoover-like tactics. OK when cited against Hoover but not OK when done by Hoover. Hoover was certainly an odd duck and may have been gay but I cannot imagine any modern author getting away with the kind of innuendo this author uses if they applied it to any modern left-leaning person. But against Hoover toss out the old fairy stories and play them up.
But the book is well researched and well written and informative.
Top reviews from other countries
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The book is a very good read and well worth the time spent reading it. Thanks Curt.
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