Synopses & Reviews
Anthony Summers peels back layers of fact and hearsay to reveal the truth about one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century No one exemplified paranoia and secrecy at the heart of American power better than J. Edgar Hoover, the original director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For this consummate biography, renowned investigative journalist Anthony Summers interviewed more than eight hundred witnesses and pored through thousands of documents to get at the truth about the man who headed the FBI for fifty years, persecuted political enemies, blackmailed politicians, and lived his own surprising secret life. Ultimately, Summers paints a portrait of a fatally flawed individual who should never have held such power, and for so long.
Review
“I read Official and Confidential with mounting horror, fascination, revulsion . . . Enthralling.” —Paul Theroux “An important book that should give us all pause, especially policy makers.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “Summers’ book is not just a history of a single hero-sized hypocrite, it is a history of a vast national delusion.” —The Spectator
Review
<DIV><DIV>“An important book that should give us all pause, especially policy makers.” —<i>The Philadelphia Inquirer</i></div><DIV><i> </i></div><DIV>“Summers’ case against Hoover is overwhelming.” —<i>The Christian Science Monitor</i></div><DIV> </div><DIV>“Anthony Summers never writes a book that fails to offer accurate material you will find nowhere else.” —Norman Mailer</div></div>
Synopsis
A New York Times-bestselling author's revealing, "important" biography of the longtime FBI director (The Philadelphia Inquirer).
No one exemplified paranoia and secrecy at the heart of American power better than J. Edgar Hoover, the original director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. For this consummate biography, renowned investigative journalist Anthony Summers interviewed more than eight hundred witnesses and pored through thousands of documents to get at the truth about the man who headed the FBI for fifty years, persecuted political enemies, blackmailed politicians, and lived his own surprising secret life. Ultimately, Summers paints a portrait of a fatally flawed individual who should never have held such power, and for so long.
About the Author
Anthony Summers is the bestselling author of eight works of nonfiction. His investigative books include Not in Your Lifetime, the critically acclaimed account of the assassination of John F. Kennedy; Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover; Goddess, a biography of Marilyn Monroe; and most recently The Eleventh Day, on the 9/11 attacks—a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for History.