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J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets
by: Curt Gentry

List Price: $19.95

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Used Price: $6.56
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Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 363.25092
EAN: 9780393321289
ISBN: 0393321282
Label: W. W. Norton & Company
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 848
Publication Date: 2001-02
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Studio: W. W. Norton & Company
Sales Rank: 344922

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Editorial Review:

Product Description:
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; and what part he played in the investigations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. A New York Times bestseller. 32 pages of photographs.

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- REVIEW OF CURT GENTRY'S J. EDGAR HOOVER THE MAN AND THE SECETS BY JOHN CHUCKMAN
This biography is a study in quiet, creepy state terror, terror as it took hold in a modern democratic state. No black shirts, no armbands, no drums, just quiet, behind-the-scenes abuse of power, blackmail, fraud, spying without warrants, illegal arrests and deportations.

Naive Americans are sometimes heard to ask how could people in other lands allow evil people to take power? Well, this book will show you how it is done and how it was done in their own country.

As someone else has said, it is a book every American should read. Little that the war criminal, George Bush, has inflicted on the American people wasn't practiced much earlier under Mr. Hoover.

Gentry's book reads like a good novel with a strong narrative, and it is loaded with interesting anecdotes. ... Read More

Rating:

- A monumental work
It took me a few months to finish this 760 pages book but it was time well invested. This book is a remarkable achievement. You will find in it the parallel stories of both J. Edgar Hoover and his creature, the FBI.

J. Edgar Hoover was already on the government's payroll by the presidency of Woodrow Wilson and he remained a Federal employee until his death in 1972 during Richard Nixon's presidential tenure. He shaped the FBI making it a highly effective investigative law and order organization. You could say the man and the agency had the same strengths and weaknesses.

The author, Curt Gentry, excelled at all the imaginable standards with this biographical work. The book is informative, an eye opener, highly readable and, comprehensive. This book stands also as ... Read More

Rating:

- Barbara Tuchman would be proud...
Fifteen years in the making, "J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets" is a long, intricate, dense, but ultimately rewarding read. There are occasional minor lapses like misspellings, date typos, Congressmen misidentified as Senators, etc., as well as names dropping in and out of the narrative which require frequent use of the index to refresh one's memory, but it's all to be expected in a work of such amazing depth and scope. I first read this book shortly after its original publication in 1991, and have found myself frequently referring back to it ever since - it's what I consider a great "gateway book," as its exhaustive bibliography covers virtually all facets of American history and political life over most of the past century. And its lessons remain relevant even today, particularly in light ... Read More

Rating:

- the most powerful man in 20th century america
i decided to read about hoover after the debate began on the patriot act and its impingement of our civil rights. Was it really a change from yesteryear? how bad were the intrusions? after reading the amazon reviews, i selected this book over others.

it is a well detailed history of j edgar hoover and his over 50 years as head of the fbi. the book is well documented with footnotes, source notes, and bibliography. the biography is told fairly objectively. i was glad to see the author didn't spend hardly any time on the cross dressing/homosexuality rumors that run rampant. it is not to say they are not correct, only that they are unproven. that means the author stuck to the facts he had, not the salacious history it could be. for that i appreciate the integrity of the historical perspective that ... Read More

Rating:

- A masterpiece of careful documentation
In the context of recent concerns about spying on Americans by the Executive Branch of government, it is timely to re-read this classic biography. Gentry skips sensationalism and scandal, but his carefully detailed portrait shows a nasty, bigotted old man who happily chiselled his employer.

So how did Hoover remain in power for half a century? Simply put, he had a file on everyone. And he wasn't afraid of using his minions to imply the threat of blackmail.

There's little evidence of active homosexuality by Hoover, indeed labelling someone a "fag" seems to have been his biggest threat. However, here we have a many who lived with his mother until his mid-40's, whose "Associate Director" was his daily companion whose adult sexuality at best could be called retarded.

Gentry's ... Read More

Books : J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets