Summary
An exploration of one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century unmasks the man behind the FBI, his family history, and relationships, and explores his own need for secrecy, deceit, and control, and the broad trends in society that shaped his world. Full description
- Prologue: Blackmail
- Part One: Nothing in this book matters until you care about communism.
- John Reed and revolution
- The rise of J. Edgar Hoover: the first secret
- "There will be bloodshed"
- "We're going back to Russia - that's a free country"
- Legal rights: Hoover vs. Louis Post
- Part Two: The war of images.
- Clyde: the second secret
- Public enemy number one: John Dillinger
- The crisis of capitalism: the third secret
- Part Three: The turning point: subversive activities.
- The secret assignment
- Part Four: The fighting war.
- Great injustice
- Hoover's war
- Part Five: The war of shadows.
- The hope of the world
- Tailgunner Joe
- Part Six: The age of fear.
- Loyalty
- No decency
- Part Seven: The land of lies.
- The specter
- The descent
- COINTELPRO
- Epilogue: master of deceit, then and now.