Reviews
"Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Tim Weiner has written a riveting inside account of the FBI's secret machinations that goes so deep into the Agency's skullduggery, readers will feel they are tapping the phones along with J. Edgar Hoover. This is a book that every American who cares about civil liberties should read."--Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side " Enemies is a research masterpiece. Picking through seventy thousand newly declassified documents and using on-the-record interviews, Weiner reveals startling new truths and debunks nagging old myths about the FBI. Enemies reads like a thriller, but don't let the heart-pumping prose fool you. Weiner has written a scholarly tour de force that will be an instant classic for any serious student of American national security."--Amy B. Zegart, Ph.D., Stanford University, author of Spying Blind "Tim Weiner's Enemies is the most comprehensive history of the FBI as an intelligence agency we have ever had. Based on extensive research in previously unavailable materials, Weiner gives us a fresh way to think about J. Edgar Hoover, the many presidents he worked with, and the FBI as a national security agency. The book is also a cautionary tale that is essential reading for anyone concerned about American civil liberties."--Robert Dallek, author of An Unfinished Life, "Pulitzer-Prizewinning author Tim Weiner has written a riveting inside account of the FBI's secret machinations that goes so deep into the Agency's skullduggery, readers will feel they are tapping the phones along with J. Edgar Hoover. This is a book that every American who cares about civil liberties should read."-Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side " Enemies is a research masterpiece. Picking through seventy thousand newly declassified documents and using on-the-record interviews, Weiner reveals startling new truths and debunks nagging old myths about the FBI. Enemies reads like a thriller, but don't let the heart-pumping prose fool you. Weiner has written a scholarly tour de force that will be an instant classic for any serious student of American national security."-Amy B. Zegart, Ph.D., Stanford University, author of Spying Blind "Tim Weiner's Enemies is the most comprehensive history of the FBI as an intelligence agency we have ever had. Based on extensive research in previously unavailable materials, Weiner gives us a fresh way to think about J. Edgar Hoover, the many presidents he worked with, and the FBI as a national security agency. The book is also a cautionary tale that is essential reading for anyone concerned about American civil liberties."-Robert Dallek, author of An Unfinished Life, Praise for Legacy of Ashes "Must reading for anyone interested in the CIA or American intelligence since World War II."- The Washington Post " Legacy of Ashes is the best book I've yet read on the CIA's covert actions."- The Wall Street Journal " Legacy of Ashes should be must-reading for every presidential candidate-and every American who wants to understand why the nation repeatedly stumbles into one disaster abroad after another."- The Boston Globe "A timely and vital contribution [that] glitters with relevance."- Los Angeles Times "This is by far the scariest book of the year."- The Christian Science Monitor "A credible and damning indictment of American intelligence policy."- Publishers Weekly (starred review) From the Hardcover edition., "Pulitzer-Prizewinning author Tim Weiner has written a riveting inside account of the FBI's secret machinations that goes so deep into the Agency's skullduggery, readers will feel they are tapping the phones along with J. Edgar Hoover. This is a book that every American who cares about civil liberties should read."-Jane Mayer, author of The Dark Side " Enemies is a research masterpiece. Picking through seventy thousand newly declassified documents and using on-the-record interviews, Weiner reveals startling new truths and debunks nagging old myths about the FBI. Enemies reads like a thriller, but don't let the heart-pumping prose fool you. Weiner has written a scholarly tour de force that will be an instant classic for any serious student of American national security."-Amy B. Zegart, Ph.D., Stanford University, author of Spying Blind "Tim Weiner's Enemies is the most comprehensive history of the FBI as an intelligence agency we have ever had. Based on extensive research in previously unavailable materials, Weiner gives us a fresh way to think about J. Edgar Hoover, the many presidents he worked with, and the FBI as a national security agency. The book is also a cautionary tale that is essential reading for anyone concerned about American civil liberties."-Robert Dallek, author of An Unfinished Life From the Hardcover edition.
Synopsis
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post * New York Daily News * Slate "Fast-paced, fair-minded, and fascinating, Tim Weiner's Enemies turns the long history of the FBI into a story that is as compelling, and important, as today's headlines."--Jeffrey Toobin, author of The Oath NATIONAL BESTSELLER Enemies is the first definitive history of the FBI's secret intelligence operations, from an author whose work on the Pentagon and the CIA won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. We think of the FBI as America's police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau's first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history. Here is the hidden history of America's hundred-year war on terror. The FBI has fought against terrorists, spies, anyone it deemed subversive--and sometimes American presidents. The FBI's secret intelligence and surveillance techniques have created a tug-of-war between protecting national security and infringing upon civil liberties. It is a tension that strains the very fabric of a free republic. Praise for Enemies "Outstanding."-- The New York Times "Absorbing . . . a sweeping narrative that is all the more entertaining because it is so redolent with screw-ups and scandals."-- Los Angeles Times