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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; and what part he played in the investigations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. A New York Times bestseller. "This massive new study promises to be the most extensive and controversial yet. . . . A chilling look at the darker side of American politics."—Library Journal
| Book 1 | Three Days in May | |
| 1 | Tuesday, May 2, 1972 | 19 |
| 2 | Wednesday, May 3, 1972 | 41 |
| 3 | Thursday, May 4, 1972 | 48 |
| Book 2 | Something Big | |
| 4 | Inauguration Day | 61 |
| 5 | The Missing Years | 70 |
| 6 | "Palmer--Do Not Let This Country See Red!" | 75 |
| 7 | The Soviet Ark | 85 |
| 8 | The Facts Are a Matter of Record | 89 |
| Book 3 | The Director | |
| 9 | The Department of Easy Virtue | 109 |
| 10 | The Director | 124 |
| 11 | "This Is the Last Straw, Edgar." | 145 |
| 12 | A Stay of Execution | 154 |
| Book 4 | The Gangster Era | |
| 13 | The Rise and Fall of Public Hero Number One | 167 |
| 14 | A Problem of Identity | 178 |
| 15 | The Man Who Came to Dinner | 189 |
| Book 5 | A Curious Relationship | |
| 16 | Coup d'Etat | 201 |
| 17 | Smear | 212 |
| 18 | Roosevelt Calls In His Due Bills | 225 |
| 19 | The View from the Balcony | 239 |
| Book 6 | The Secret War | |
| 20 | "Listen!" | 277 |
| 21 | The FBI Director, the First Lady, and Other Matters | 298 |
| Book 7 | The Man from Independence | |
| 22 | A Case of Somewhat Rancid Morals | 321 |
| 23 | Chief Justice Hoover | 338 |
| 24 | The Punch-and-Judy Show | 360 |
| 25 | Friends, Enemies, and the Investigation of Jesus Christ | 383 |
| Book 8 | Virtually Untouchable | |
| 26 | "We Didn't Want Them to Die." | 401 |
| 27 | An "Incident" | 435 |
| Book 9 | The Director Versus the General | |
| 28 | The Kennedys | 467 |
| 29 | "We Must Mark Him Now." | 499 |
| Book 10 | On Borrowed Time | |
| 30 | Seriously Flawed | 541 |
| 31 | The Fall of LBJ | 577 |
| Book 11 | The Unforgotten Man | |
| 32 | Hail, Caesar! | 613 |
| 33 | Moles | 643 |
| 34 | Under Siege | 669 |
| 35 | The Third Judas | 687 |
| 36 | The Last Days | 710 |
| Epilogue: Pandora's Box | 725 | |
| Source Notes | 761 | |
| Acknowledgments | 803 | |
| Interviews and Other Sources | 805 | |
| Bibliography | 807 | |
| Index | 827 |
Anonymous
Posted August 26, 2002
Gentry is always a good read. His depth of research is outstanding. His style is most enjoyable as always.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.MerlinDB
Posted May 3, 2013
Much interesting material, but too much detail. Could have been cut down by abut one-third and made a better read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted December 10, 2012
Meat and Potatos Curt. This book is VERY detailed, he spends alot of time on what i feel are useless facts. Not only does he fill the chapters with uselss facts he went added 1+ pages of endnotes to each of the 36 chapters. I did not like the way he started off at the end of JE's life instead of just starting from the begining. If your looking for a day by day life story of JE its your lucky day!
Anonymous
Posted March 5, 2012
The book has a novel like feel to it making it a fairly entertaing read and a definite page turner. Its rather lengthy and it seemed the author was overly biased in some cases. However, overall the book was a good and interesting read.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 8, 2012
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Overview
"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 ...