Master of deceit : J. Edgard Hoover and America in the age of lies

**A fascinating and timely biography of J. Edgar Hoover from a Sibert Medalist.**__"King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. . . . You better take it before your filthy, abnormal, fraudulent self is bared to the nation."____it__— and the Bureau — all the power wanted. Using photographs, cartoons, movie posters, and FBI transcripts, gives readers the necessary evidence to make their own conclusions. Here is a book about the twentieth century that blazes with questions and insights about our choices in the twenty-first. A fascinating and timely biography of J. Edgar Hoover from a Sibert Medalist. "King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. . . . You better take it before your filthy, abnormal, fraudulent self is bared to the nation." Dr. Martin Luther King received this demand in an anonymous letter in 1964. He believed that the letter was telling him to commit suicide. Who wrote this anonymous letter? The FBI. And the man behind it all was J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's first director. In this unsparing exploration of one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century, accomplished historian Marc Aronson unmasks the man behind the Bureau- his tangled family history and personal relationships; his own need for secrecy, deceit, and control; and the broad trends in American society that shaped his world. Hoover may have given America the security it wanted, but the secrets he knew gave him #8212; and the Bureau #8212; all the power he wanted. Using photographs, cartoons, movie posters, and FBI transcripts, Master of Deceit gives readers the necessary evidence to make their own conclusions. Here is a book about the twentieth century that blazes with questions and insights about our choices in the twenty-first. Back matter includes an epilogue, an author's note, source notes, and a bibliography This book examines the story of America during J. Edgar Hoover's reign as head of the FBI.;Nothing in this book matters until you care about communism -- The war of images -- The turning point: subversive activities -- The fighting war -- The war of shadows -- The age of fear -- The land of lies -- Epilogue: master of deceit, then and now. 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