Scan barcode
utopologist's review against another edition
3.0
Great writing; I just reached a point of diminishing returns with my interest in the subject matter. I can only curse Hoover's very name and his almost successful campaign to scuttle American leftism before I get tired and worn out.
puhnner's review against another edition
dark
informative
medium-paced
3.25
Although long, seemed like the book should have been much longer. Plenty on the FBI beginnings, but barely a word on the FBI and - the Kennedy(s) Assassinations, the Martin Luther King Assassination, the Anthrax Letters, the Oklahoma Bombings, the FBI Lab scandals, only smatterings of Hoover and Tolson relationship, Hoover and Blackmailing, and etc... Other than that, a very interesting read.
fallooja's review against another edition
5.0
Rock solid. Highly readable w/ Hoover as the protagonist, just as interesting in a different way after his death.
gregbrown's review against another edition
4.0
Weiner produces a pretty readable history of the FBI, with juicy stuff for the birth and '60s and ok stuff for everything else. It's just hard to beat Hoover's JFK/LBJ/Nixon run in terms of saucy secrets, waning power, and everything else that makes for a good read! Unlike Bamford's similar Body of Secrets book for the FBI, Weiner doesn't have the advantage of discrete foreign episodes to structure the narrative around, instead trying to tell a longer tale of the FBI as primarily an intelligence agency focused around fighting communism and anyone else Hoover and ilk thought was subversive. More competent than the CIA, the FBI was still largely limited by poor target-selection, driven more by Hoover's animosity against the communists and left-wing, and only focusing on domestic terrorism like the KKK under extreme duress from LBJ.
Through it all, too, is a sort of carried assumption by the FBI that they're above the law, and that they draw some sort of divine right handed down from FDR to wiretap, sabotage, steal, and harass anyone they deemed necessary. Weiner does a great job of examining just how flimsy that claim could be, and how Hoover and others tried to perpetuate and reinforce that presidential dictate by any means necessary—including hiding the circumstances and limitations of that grant from subsequent presidents. It seems almost unreal, until you flip on the news and see the CIA director complaining that people have access to encryption. While you can sense Weiner's skepticism seep through, his neutral tone hampers him quite a bit as we near the last few decades, and keeps him from drawing the sort of larger conclusions I'd like to see from the book. As is, it ends in kind of a whimper, devoid of any real finale outside of Weiner's implicit restatement of the thesis. blah
Through it all, too, is a sort of carried assumption by the FBI that they're above the law, and that they draw some sort of divine right handed down from FDR to wiretap, sabotage, steal, and harass anyone they deemed necessary. Weiner does a great job of examining just how flimsy that claim could be, and how Hoover and others tried to perpetuate and reinforce that presidential dictate by any means necessary—including hiding the circumstances and limitations of that grant from subsequent presidents. It seems almost unreal, until you flip on the news and see the CIA director complaining that people have access to encryption. While you can sense Weiner's skepticism seep through, his neutral tone hampers him quite a bit as we near the last few decades, and keeps him from drawing the sort of larger conclusions I'd like to see from the book. As is, it ends in kind of a whimper, devoid of any real finale outside of Weiner's implicit restatement of the thesis. blah
miscbrah's review against another edition
5.0
Took me a long time to read this book but god damnnnnn, it was good. Really comprehensive history of the origins of the FBI, although it lacks a lot of info about the fbi in the 80s- present time. Really detailled though from the origin up until the 70s.
Weiner has a writing style that seperates the contents of a chapter by mini episodes, or i guess you can say "scenes." It's not a linear style within a chapter, even though the book overal is linear( from the origin till present day).
For example, within a chapter you will have the main characters jumping around dealing with various projects/events/ or situations. Its not like anything linear e.g. one chapter is dedicated to hoover dealing with one problem. What happens is you have one chapter where it'll start with hoover dealing with a problem but then you hav ea lot of mini skits in that chapter with the other characters dealing with problems like the Attorney General, President, and spies.
Overall, pretty good book. Flows well.
Weiner has a writing style that seperates the contents of a chapter by mini episodes, or i guess you can say "scenes." It's not a linear style within a chapter, even though the book overal is linear( from the origin till present day).
For example, within a chapter you will have the main characters jumping around dealing with various projects/events/ or situations. Its not like anything linear e.g. one chapter is dedicated to hoover dealing with one problem. What happens is you have one chapter where it'll start with hoover dealing with a problem but then you hav ea lot of mini skits in that chapter with the other characters dealing with problems like the Attorney General, President, and spies.
Overall, pretty good book. Flows well.
toitoine's review against another edition
4.0
An interesting book that focuses mostly on J. Edgar Hoover's time at the head of the FBI. The Bureau's history after Hoover's death is condensed in the last quarter of the book and serves more as an introduction to recent events than deep analysis. It remains very readable, even though the sheer accumulation of names can be disorienting.
5easypieces's review against another edition
5.0
Fantastic, and a great "sequel" of sorts to "Legacy of Ashes," Weiner's history of the CIA. A solid history that punctures a lot of the myths about the FBI, but which also highlights successes where warranted. I can't imagine a fairer reading of the history of the FBI than this one.
qaphsiel's review against another edition
4.0
Here's a quick summary of why you might want to read this: it's a well-researched and documented history of the FBI, including all the good and they bad, about Hoover in particular, but the good-bad stuff didn't end with him of course. Hoover led the FBI for 55 years (about 2/3 of its existence) and so there's a lot about him and his relationships with the many presidents who came and went over during his tenure. The last third of the book takes on the post-Hoover decades: how it slowly rose from the disgrace of Hoover's decline and the Nixon years, through the shock of the terror attacks of the 90s and early aughts. It ends around 2010, so our man Comey hasn't come along yet (except in a fascinating vignette as the Deputy Attorney General).
This book gave me a lot more context in which to place the FBI (and Comey) today, to say nothing of simply being a well-written (the author won a Pulitzer for his history of the CIA) and fascinating history.
This book gave me a lot more context in which to place the FBI (and Comey) today, to say nothing of simply being a well-written (the author won a Pulitzer for his history of the CIA) and fascinating history.