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Master of Deceit
J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies
Master of Deceit: J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies. 226p. illus. photos. reprods. bibliog. index. notes. Candlewick. Mar. 2012. Tr $25.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5025-4; ebook $25.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5619-5. LC number unavailable.
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Gr 9 Up—We hear a great deal in the media about the loss or watering down of American values. If Master of Deceit makes nothing else clear, it shows plainly that these issues are far from new, and that powerful people have always attempted to shape events and trends in ways that benefited them. It begins with a prologue discussing a letter to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1964, a letter that threatened him with exposure of being a Communist pawn unless he committed suicide. It was penned by an FBI official in an attempt to impress his boss, J. Edgar Hoover. The text moves on to give a lucid account of the rise of the Communist Party in both Russia and the United States. It parallels the lives of John Reed and J. Edgar Hoover, showing the varying impacts of two strong personalities, and then moves on chronologically to cover the main events of Hoover's life. Relying on wide reading and vast research, Aronson paints a nuanced and evenhanded portrait of a man who was complicated, almost certainly neurotic, and who had an iron will to control—both himself and others. Thoroughly discussing the FBI's role in law enforcement, the McCarthy witch hunts and HUAC, campaigns against Dr. King and civil rights, and comparing the egregious violations of individual rights and due process committed by the agency to the conduct of post-9/11 containment and treatment of Arab Americans, this book is a must for high school students. Extensive use of black-and-white photos and period cartoons greatly enhances the text. The author's closing note on "How I Researched and Wrote This Book" is both revelatory and engaging. This groundbreaking volume will encourage dialogue on tough issues of integrity, security, individual rights, and the shifting sands of American values.—Ann Welton, Helen B. Stafford Elementary, Tacoma, WAThis book chronicles the facts of Hoover's personal life and his half-century-long stranglehold on the FBI. The biography of an American villain, a history of America during the last century, and a meditation on what it means to be American in the present era--Aronson delivers another provocative book with an ambitious focus, sprawling and scattershot at times, but almost gloriously so. Bib., ind.
Aronson’s biography of J. Edgar Hoover chronicles the facts of his personal life and his half-century-long stranglehold on the FBI: beginning during World War I, culminating with the Vietnam War (just shy of Watergate), and encompassing such diverse phenomena as Prohibition, the Cold War, and the civil rights movement. It duly notes his talents for organization, motivation, and manipulation -- and the tricks of his trade: secrets, lies, and grudges. The book also delves into the potential secrets in Hoover’s closet: a strange relationship with his mother, persistent rumors about his sexuality, and the possibility of a racially mixed ancestry. Perhaps Aronson’s greatest task, however, is to re-create, for a generation of readers for whom Communism is a relic of the past, the palpable fear of Communism and the formidable threat that it posed to the American psyche throughout most of the last century. Aronson succeeds admirably on all these fronts, but perhaps this last one best, especially when he reveals a chilling personal connection in an author’s note. The biography of an American villain, a history of America during the last century, and a meditation on what it means to be American in the present era -- Aronson delivers another provocative book with an ambitious focus, sprawling and scattershot at times, but almost gloriously so. Notes, bibliography, image credits, and index are appended. jonathan hunt
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