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A review by nikita_barsukov
Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner
4.0
Four stars, only because I wished this book would be much longer. Weiner builds an interesting case of FBI as the most competent intelligence agency in the US. At least he portrays FBI with more respect and more favorably than CIA in his previous book. With this approach Weiner omits almost everything else: Mafia and organized crime, serial killers, prohibition and bootleggers - almost nothing of this is in the book, which is unfortunate.
Central premise of this book: FBI was created as an organization to fight enemies of state. At the very beginning enemies of state were anarchists and socialists (FBI dates back to 1910s after all), and then - communists and USSR. Parts where FBI looks over KKK, organized crime in favor of strengthening surveillance over suspect communists and deviants are very telling.
Central premise of this book: FBI was created as an organization to fight enemies of state. At the very beginning enemies of state were anarchists and socialists (FBI dates back to 1910s after all), and then - communists and USSR. Parts where FBI looks over KKK, organized crime in favor of strengthening surveillance over suspect communists and deviants are very telling.