Enemies: A History of the FBI - Softcover

Weiner, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 014104795X ISBN 13: 9780141047959

Publisher: Penguin, 2013

Synopsis

The epic, disturbing story of how the FBI is America's real secret service

'Such creatures of passion, disloyalty, and anarchy must be crushed out. The hand of our power should close over them at once' President Woodrow Wilson, 1919

The United States is a country founded on the ideals of democracy and freedom, yet throughout the last century it has used secret and lawless methods to destroy its enemies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the most powerful of these forces.

Following his award-winning history of the C.I.A., Legacy of Ashes, Tim Weiner has now written the first full history of the F.B.I. as a secret intellligence service. Drawn entirely from firsthand materials in the F.B.I.'s own files, Enemies brilliantly brings to life the entire story, from the cracking of anarchist cells to the prosecution of the 'war on terror'. It is the story of America's war against spies, subversives and saboteurs - and the self-inflicted wounds American democracy suffered in battle.

Throughout the book lies the long shadow of J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the F.B.I. with an iron fist for forty-eight years. He was not a monster, but a brilliant confidence man who ruled by fear, force, and fraud. His power shaped America; his legacy haunts it.

Reviews:

'Truly impressive ... [Enemies] could have been put together only by a journalist of Weiner's stature' Keith Lowe, Sunday Telegraph

'A history that moves at the pace of a James Ellroy novel. But Weiner's truth is wilder even than Ellroy's fiction. Weiner sets the record straight on the FBI's first 100 years using only the Bureau's documents and oral testimony, most of which has never been seen' David Blackburn, Spectator

'An outstanding piece of work, even-handed, exhaustively researched, smoothly written and thematically timely ... This is certainly the most complete book we are likely to see about the F.B.I.'s intelligence-gathering operations, from Emma Goldman to Osama bin Laden' Bryan Burrough, New York Times

'Extensively researched, admirably understated, yet terrifically entertaining' Boston Globe

'Important and disturbing ... Weiner lays bare a record of embarrassing, even stunning failure, in which the bureau's lawlessness was matched only by its incompetence ... [he] has done prodigious research, yet tells this depressing story with all the verve and coherence of a good spy thriller' New York Times Book Review

About the author:

Tim Weiner is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the New York Times, where he has reported from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan and fifteen other nations. He was based for a decade in Washington, DC, where he covered the C.I.A. and the Military - the latter topic being the subject of his Blank Check: The Pentagon's Black Budget. He is the author of the bestselling Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA, which won the 2007 National Book Award for Non-Fiction.

About this title

Review:

Truly impressive ... [Enemies] could have been put together only by a journalist of Weiner's stature (Keith Lowe Sunday Telegraph)

A history that moves at the pace of a James Ellroy novel. But Weiner's truth is wilder even than Ellroy's fiction. Weiner sets the record straight on the FBI's first 100 years using only the Bureau's documents and oral testimony, most of which has never been seen (David Blackburn Spectator)

An outstanding piece of work, even-handed, exhaustively researched, smoothly written and thematically timely ... This is certainly the most complete book we are likely to see about the F.B.I.'s intelligence-gathering operations, from Emma Goldman to Osama bin Laden (Bryan Burrough New York Times)

Extensively researched, admirably understated, yet terrifically entertaining (Boston Globe)

Important and disturbing ... Weiner lays bare a record of embarrassing, even stunning failure, in which the bureau's lawlessness was matched only by its incompetence ... [he] has done prodigious research, yet tells this depressing story with all the verve and coherence of a good spy thriller (New York Times Book Review)

A fascinating account of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's counterespionage snooping over the past century ... A very good read (Wall Street Journal)

An authoritative and often frightening history of what has been, in effect, America's secret police ... A sober, monumental and unflinchingly critical account of a problematic institution (Kirkus Reviews)

An important, judicious account of the tension between national security and civil liberties (Publishers Weekly)

Fascinating ... an important and biting inquiry into an agency that protects Americans in a dangerous world while straining against the limitations we rightly impose upon it (San Francisco Chronicle)

[A] masterpiece ... reads like a thriller, but don't let the heart-pumping prose fool you ... a scholarly tour de force that will be an instant classic for any serious student of American national security (Amy Zegart (author of Spying Blind: The CIA, the FBI and the Origins of 9/11))

About the Author:

Tim Weiner has won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting and writing on secret intelligence and national security. As a correspondent for "The New York Times, "he covered the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington and terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, and other nations. "Enemies" is his fourth book. His "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA "won the National Book Award and was acclaimed as one of the year's best books by "The New York Times, The Economist, The Washington Post, Time, "and many other publications. "The Wall Street Journal" called "Betrayal" "the best book ever written on a case of espionage." He is now working on a history of the American military.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 014104795X
• ISBN 13: 9780141047959
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 560