Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies

by Marc Aronson

Overview

A fascinating and timely biography of J. Edgar Hoover from a Sibert Medalist.

"King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. . . . You better take it before your filthy, abnormal, fraudulent self is bared to the nation.”
Dr. Martin Luther King received this demand in an anonymous letter in 1964. He believed that the letter was telling him to commit suicide. Who wrote this anonymous letter? The FBI. And the man behind it all was J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's first director. In this unsparing exploration of one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century, accomplished historian Marc Aronson unmasks the man behind the Bureau- his tangled family history and personal relationships; his own need for secrecy, deceit, and control; and the broad trends in American society that shaped his world. Hoover may have given America the security it wanted, but the secrets he knew gave him
— and the Bureau — all the power he wanted. Using photographs, cartoons, movie posters, and FBI transcripts, Master of Deceit gives readers the necessary evidence to make their own conclusions. Here is a book about the twentieth century that blazes with questions and insights about our choices in the twenty-first.
Back matter includes an epilogue, an author’s note, source notes, and a bibliography.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763656195
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/10/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1090L (what's this?)
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

About the Author

Marc Aronson has a doctorate in American history and is a member of the graduate faculty in the library school at Rutgers. He is an editor and author of many award-winning books for young people, including War Is . . . Soldiers, Survivors, and Storytellers Talk About War, which he co-edited with Patty Campbell. Marc Aronson lives in New Jersey.

Marc Aronson is living proof of the magic of the world of writing books for young readers. He did not expect this to be his career—he went to New York University, where he earned a doctorate in American history, and worked in adult reference publishing. But when he saw an advertisement for an editor of a series of books about the lands and peoples of the world (The Portraits of the Nations series, originally published by Lippencott)—books he had grown up reading and loving—he applied for and won the job. Working on books for young people—and then meeting other authors and artists, reviewers, librarians, teachers—he found he was in a world he loved. Editing books about different nations, peoples, and cultures, he came to realize he wanted to publish fiction and poetry, as well as nonfiction for young people. He created Edge—a place for books that explored all of the borders and boundaries in growing up, from immigration to coming-of-age. He then began to write his own books.

Marc’s older son once asked him why his first book, Art Attack, was so different from the others. It is the one book he has written about art; all the others in some way relate to history or current events. In a way he experienced in nonfiction what many novelists go through: his first book was the most autobiographical. Marc grew up learning about radical art, avant-garde art, from his father, who was a painter and innovative scenic designer. The book was a form of passing on what he had learned. While all of his books are nonfiction, they all also have a personal dimension—a way that person, subject, idea, spoke to him. Marc grew up in a school where many families had suffered from the Red Scare, a school devoted to racial integration when that was the law, but often not the practice. Master of Deceit is, in a way, Marc visiting his own childhood and looking at the conflicts he grew up hearing about with his trained adult eyes.

Marc now wears many hats, he is part of the graduate faculty in the School of Communication and Information at Rutgers University, where he trains librarians and teachers in using books with K–12 readers. He gives talks in schools to students, trains teachers and librarians—especially on the new Common Core standards, and he is exploring how nonfiction can flourish in the world of e-books and apps. For example, for Master of Deceit, he has found a film, You Can’t Get Away With It, that was crafted for J. Edgar Hoover and fits perfectly with chapter 7 (you can see the original poster for it on page 62). You can see the entire film for free by going to his website, www.marcaronson.com, where he also has a discussion guide for the book and other resources.

Editorial Reviews

Gr 9 Up—We hear a great deal in the media about the loss or watering down of American values. If Master of Deceit makes nothing else clear, it shows plainly that these issues are far from new, and that powerful people have always attempted to shape events and trends in ways that benefited them. It begins with a prologue discussing a letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1964, a letter that threatened him with exposure of being a Communist pawn unless he committed suicide. It was penned by an FBI official in an attempt to impress his boss, J. Edgar Hoover. The text moves on to give a lucid account of the rise of the Communist Party in both Russia and the United States. It parallels the lives of John Reed and J. Edgar Hoover, showing the varying impacts of two strong personalities, and then moves on chronologically to cover the main events of Hoover's life. Relying on wide reading and vast research, Aronson paints a nuanced and evenhanded portrait of a man who was complicated, almost certainly neurotic, and who had an iron will to control—both himself and others. Thoroughly discussing the FBI's role in law enforcement, the McCarthy witch hunts and HUAC, campaigns against Dr. King and civil rights, and comparing the egregious violations of individual rights and due process committed by the agency to the conduct of post-9/11 containment and treatment of Arab Americans, this book is a must for high school students. Extensive use of black-and-white photos and period cartoons greatly enhances the text. The author's closing note on "How I Researched and Wrote This Book" is both revelatory and engaging. This groundbreaking volume will encourage dialogue on tough issues of integrity, security, individual rights, and the shifting sands of American values.—Ann Welton, Helen B. Stafford Elementary, Tacoma, WA

School Library Journal

his book is not and should not be just about Hoover,” Aronson (Trapped) tells readers in the epilogue to this wide-ranging, extensively researched, and detailed biography of the controversial 20th-century FBI director. He’s not kidding: Hoover’s story unfolds against the tumultuous immigrant history of the U.S. and the growth of the FBI, which Hoover molded for more than 40 years. Hoover emerges as a magnified example of abusive governmental power, portrayed as a controlling conformist who was organized, intelligent, sexually suppressed, and manipulative. Aronson’s stimulating questions (“ho is the bigger liar: the capitalist who teases the poor with images of goods they cannot afford or the Communist who hypnotizes the masses with empty slogans and false ideals?”), and his occasional use of first- and second-person, will wake up readers accustomed to less in-your-face historical narratives. The book does an excellent job of creating parallels between America’s anticommunist efforts and the current fight against terrorism as it questions the price of security and the media’s roles in keeping secrets. Period photographs, movie posters, cartoons, and FBI documents supplement a biography abounding in historical context. Ages 14–up. Agent: Ken Wright, Writers House. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

MASTER OF DECEIT is a masterpiece of historical narrative, with the momentum of a thrilling novel and the historical detail of the best nonfiction... This is as much about how history is written as it is about Hoover and his times... Written with the authority of a fine writer with an inquiring mind, this dramatic story is history writing at its best.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Aronson’s stimulating questions and his occasional use of first- and second-person, will wake up readers accustomed to less in-your-face historical narratives. The book does an excellent job of creating parallels between America’s anticommunist efforts and the current fight against terrorism as it questions the price of security and the media’s roles in keeping secrets. Period photographs, movie posters, cartoons, and FBI documents supplement a biography abounding in historical context.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Relying on wide reading and vast research, Aronson paints a nuanced and evenhanded portrait of a man who was complicated, almost certainly neurotic, and who had an iron will to control–both himself and others. Thoroughly discussing the FBI’s role in law enforcement, the McCarthy witch hunts and HUAC, campaigns against Dr. King and civil rights, and comparing the egregious violations of individual rights and due process committed by the agency to the conduct of post-9/11 containment and treatment of Arab Americans, this book is a must for high school students.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

The biography of an American villain, a history of America during the last century, and a meditation on what it means to be American in the present era—Aronson delivers another provocative book.
—The Horn Book

This biography is an unflinching portrait of an insecure, scheming zealot who conflated communism, civil rights, and the antiwar movement into a singular, immeasurable menace and dedicated himself to eradicating it... Large black-and-white reproductions of photos, internal memos, and cultural artifacts document a troubled man on a mission... Most compelling is the afterword, wherein the author expresses the challenges and fears he faced exposing the underbelly of the FBI under Hoover, making this both a gripping historical investigation and an instructive example of the researched communication of ideas.
—Booklist

Between the photographs and documents, Aronson allows readers to pause and contemplate the viewpoint presented. Even as he seamlessly connects political and social past and present, there is a stunning amount of detail. In the age of multimedia, Aronson dutifully ties in movie titles and Internet sources to supplement specific incidents, constructing a richly researched biography highlighting a tumultuous period of American civil rights.
—VOYA

Marc Aronson has written a powerful and thought-provoking book. His devastating, but nuanced portrait of the life and career of J. Edgar Hoover captures the impact of the long-term FBI director on American politics and thought. His is a cautionary tale of the costs of secrecy and of the fears engendered by blind fears over hyped security threats.
—Athan Theoharis, professor emeritus at Marquette University, expert on J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI

MASTER OF DECEIT is simply outstanding. Marc Aronson explores the intersection of personality and history in a way that not only records the times and events, but actually illuminates them.
—Walker Dean Myers, a three-time finalist for the National Book Award and author of MONSTER, winner of the first Michael L. Printz Award

A powerful book that serves its title well. Aronson untangles the complex history of a master (J. Edgar Hoover) who created, manipulated, and guarded the nation’s “truth.” This is an important book, not just for its subject matter but also for its approach. Aronson skillfully shows that history is more than fact; history is a location: it’s where the reader positions himself or herself and what the “masters” do with the facts. A riveting read.
—Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of HITLER YOUTH, a Newbery Honor Book and a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book

Aronson chillingly recounts the extent to which many American lives were manipulated and ruined.
—The Washington Post

Using posters, photographs, comics, and a rich text, Aronson delivers information about a tumultuous period of American history and one of it’s most powerful figures.
—The Boston Globe

This title is highly recommended, and might even prompt some passionate discussions among parents and their teens.
—Reading Today online (International Reading Association)

From the Publisher

It is clear from the opening of Aronson’s chronicle of the life, career, and death of first FBI director J. Edgar Hoover that he considers the director’s 48-year reign to be a dark time for American civil liberties. Part 1 of the book begins, “Nothing in this book matters until you care about Communism,” offering some background for the modern (teen) reader who may require a refresher as to the whys behind the man’s rise to power. Aronson does not refrain from digging at Hoover’s secrets, sharing photographic evidence to support speculation about his sexuality and racial heritage. For readers (like myself) who agree with the author’s editorial position, the story serves as a cautionary tale about the evils that can be done to U.S. citizens by individuals whose mission it is to protect us. A fascinating portrait of a flawed and not altogether likable historical figure.

(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Library Journal

Luke Daniels adopts a serious and authoritative reportorial tone to deliver Aronson's important biography of J. Edgar Hoover and chronicle of his influence on the U.S. The result is a fascinating, and sometimes sinister, documentary—and a call to action for teens to educate themselves about today's governments and the people who occupy positions of power. Aronson engages with his teen audience by connecting the history to things they're more familiar with—9/11, the Patriot Act—and Daniels's strong, compelling reading drives the narrative. Well-done bonus material makes available the same photos and documents from the print book, complete with audio captions narrated by Daniels. Endnotes, read by the author, are personal and fascinating. There’s plenty to learn, and plenty to think about, for teens and adults alike. J.M.D. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine

APRIL 2012 - AudioFile

In fascinating detail, Aronson tells the story of America during J. Edgar Hoover's reign as head of the FBI and "the nearly fifty years of criminal activity that was his legacy." For today's students, Communism and anti-Communism are "just terms that appear on tests, like the Whig, Greenback, or Know-Nothing parties," but this volume brings alive the drama of the Cold War period and demonstrates its significance for readers now. Taking his title from Hoover's 1958 work on the dangers of Communism, Aronson writes about the dangers of a "security at all costs" mentality during the Cold War and, by extension, our post-9/11 world. He covers a large slice of history--the Palmer raids of 1919, the gangster era, the Scottsboro case, World War II, the Rosenbergs, Joseph McCarthy, the civil rights movement and Watergate--but this is no mere recitation of the facts; it's a masterpiece of historical narrative, with the momentum of a thrilling novel and the historical detail of the best nonfiction. With references as far-flung as Karl Marx, Stalin, Wordsworth, American Idol, The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Rings, this is as much about how history is written as it is about Hoover and his times. Extensive backmatter includes fascinating comments on the research, thorough source notes that are actually interesting to read and a lengthy bibliography. Written with the authority of a fine writer with an inquiring mind, this dramatic story is history writing at its best. (Nonfiction. 14 & up)

Kirkus Reviews