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polo's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
Brilliant book. I highly recommend the audio - it's long, but the narrator is great and the story/style keeps you listening. I'm absolutely fascinated by this blunt and complex history of one of the most interesting and messed up men in the history of the US.
nanikeeva's review
3.0
i was skeptical at the "we only seek to understand, not judge" in the foreword and i was right - this is the closest thing to actual historical accountability i've seen about a figure like this, but still very much sugarcoating and punches pulled. i guess some *could* argue that the author is "sticking only to the facts," but 1) the degree to which FBI and Hoover harassed Americans in the post-war Communism panic is entirely downplayed and 2) who knows what else will come to light about the 50-60s. still, good historical context and research.
kegifford's review against another edition
challenging
dark
informative
slow-paced
4.0
Comprehensive, readable biography of a complicated man whose actions powerfully impacted our country's history. I found it a little hard to read about some of his misdeeds, especially the terrible campaign he waged against the civil rights movment.
glowe2's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Pulitzer Prize winning biography of J. Edgar Hoover. He ran the FBI for over 50 years and managed to push his political belief systems for a long period via the FBI while maintaining an image of being a non-partisan.
What fascinated me was that Hoover starts as a bureaucrat who wants the FBI to be more of an analytical department than a federal police force. Through happenstance rather than design, he begins to expand the FBI role and starts collecting data on communist and other groups he deems to be subversive. This power of information proves to be a double edged sword. It gives him political power that makes Presidents fearful of him but also leaves him vulnerable to pressure from the party in power to collect damaging information on their political opponents.
Hoover was a paradox. Conservative but also a closeted gay man. A Republican who enjoyed a close relationship with the very liberal Franklin Roosevelt. Strongly anti-communist (bordering on paranoid later in his career) but found excuses to not apply the same zeal to right wing extremist groups like the Klan.
The book is very well written and a great history lesson on how involved Hoover was in so many of the important events of the 20th century. For me, the best line in the book was the description of the common trait Hoover and Nixon shared. The author wrote that both "viewed themselves as visionaries surrounded by lesser mortals".
There is also an excellent epilogue on the fallout to Nixon's presidency following Hoover's sudden death. There is speculation that Hoover's political skills could have kept the Watergate scandal from occurring and saving Nixon's second term.
What fascinated me was that Hoover starts as a bureaucrat who wants the FBI to be more of an analytical department than a federal police force. Through happenstance rather than design, he begins to expand the FBI role and starts collecting data on communist and other groups he deems to be subversive. This power of information proves to be a double edged sword. It gives him political power that makes Presidents fearful of him but also leaves him vulnerable to pressure from the party in power to collect damaging information on their political opponents.
Hoover was a paradox. Conservative but also a closeted gay man. A Republican who enjoyed a close relationship with the very liberal Franklin Roosevelt. Strongly anti-communist (bordering on paranoid later in his career) but found excuses to not apply the same zeal to right wing extremist groups like the Klan.
The book is very well written and a great history lesson on how involved Hoover was in so many of the important events of the 20th century. For me, the best line in the book was the description of the common trait Hoover and Nixon shared. The author wrote that both "viewed themselves as visionaries surrounded by lesser mortals".
There is also an excellent epilogue on the fallout to Nixon's presidency following Hoover's sudden death. There is speculation that Hoover's political skills could have kept the Watergate scandal from occurring and saving Nixon's second term.
chfugal's review against another edition
Hoover was really a boring man. I don't know how im only 50% through, it's been going on forever. It more of a history of the FBI but I wish it had more FBI things in it.