PUPPETMASTER: THE SECRET LIFE OF J. EDGAR HOOVER

Rating:
Summary: FASCINATING AND THOUGHT PROVOKING
Review: Any mention of J. Edgar Hoover these days conjures up images of a cross-dresser in a hotel room and secret files worthy of any blackmailer. While this new biography on Hoover does cover those rumors and hundreds more, that is not the reason to rush immediately to buy this book.
In "Puppetmaster," author Richard Hack unfolds a psychological study of a man as errie as he was fascinating, as powerful as he was corrupt, and as fundamentally patriotic as any man since George Washington.
The book is written like a novel--full of description that flows the reader through tales of gangsters, kidnappings, Communism, wiretaps, and murder. I throughly enjoyed this book, which I absolutely recommend to anyone who wants a wonderful read about a fascinating man.

Rating:
Summary: Biography for Our Times
Review: As the USA focuses on domestic intelligence, this stunning work helps clarify issues citizens need to focus on. This thorough and insightful look at the bureaucratic career of the 20th century details the triumphs and pitfalls of intelligence gathering, as well as road signs on abuse of federal power.From the Palmer raids to the reform that led to J. Edgar assuming power to the director twisting heart-thumping patriotism into the ability to shelter gangland murder, the truth provides more drama than the folk legends of cross-dressing.

As American public opinion helps shape national intelligence and security, this book provides new and invaluable insight. A thorough and insightful index provides access to the details and personalities of a singular man and career.

Rating:
Summary: good story poorly told
Review: Hoover was a wierd and compelling figure, and this book does some justice to his inherently interesting life. The writing is really weak though, and no editor was around to weed out phrases like "unethical to a fault," (a description of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.) Hoover's story is briskly (though somewhat breathlessly) told, but the author, sadly, proves illiterate to a fault.

Rating:
Summary: good story poorly told
Review: Hoover was a wierd and compelling figure, and this book does some justice to his inherently interesting life. The writing is really weak though, and no editor was around to weed out phrases like "unethical to a fault," (a description of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.) Hoover's story is briskly (though somewhat breathlessly) told, but the author, sadly, proves illiterate to a fault.

Rating:
Summary: good story poorly told
Review: Hoover was a wierd and compelling figure, and this book does some justice to his inherently interesting life. The writing is really weak though, and no editor was around to weed out phrases like "unethical to a fault," (a description of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.) Hoover's story is briskly (though somewhat breathlessly) told, but the author, sadly, proves illiterate to a fault.

Rating:
Summary: absolute power . . .
Review: I knew nothing about Hoover before reading this book, but Hack does a comprehensive job in this bio. Hoover is portrayed as a higly intelligent, organized man, who had too much power for his (or the country's) good.

Hoover's need for fame was a double edged sword: It helped promote the FBI and it's intentions, but it also put public image over real substance. The most interesting parts of the book were Hoover tracking down old-time mobsters, and his obsession with Martin Luther King Jr. and his ties to the communist party.

The biggest problems with the book were lack of technical details (Hack throughout mentions illegal wire taps and "black bag jobs", but never goes into details of how they were implemented), and apparent embellishment of the truth. For example, Hack goes into detail in converstaions between 2 people which there are no sources for. This is confusing and detracts from the overall authenticity of the book.

Overall, this was a great book to learn about this unusual leader. I think it paints a farily balanced picture of him, not as an evil man, but of a smart control freak and media hound that was given too much power for too long.

Rating:
Summary: The Extremes of Light and Dark in One Human Being
Review: Puppetmaster chronicles the life and career of J. Edgar Hoover, Director of the FBI for over fifty years that lasted continuously across the landscape of eight different U.S. presidents.

Author Richard Hack brings us an engaging look at Hoover's career and his enormous influence in structuring the FBI as an important and powerful law enforcement agency concerned with many of the homeland security issues of the time.

Hoover is an ultimate icon of how one human being can do so much good and yet, at the same time, resort to some of the most corrupt immoral and un-American tactics to achieve his goals.

His life is an example of a highly organized and determined American who believed he was doing what was best for America during his fifty year directorship, He accomplished a tremendous amount in building a strong and stable agency that was truly valuable, and continues to be so, in assisting criminal investigations and apprehensions throughout the country.

Unfortunately, J. Edgar Hoover was a human being who became a bit too impressed with the aura he had created about himself and his very profound human insecurity made him a dangerous person. He was the living embodiment of the axiom that 'power corrurpts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

In the interests of national security, Hoover perpetrated some oif the most heinous acts of immorality witnessed in American history. Don't forget, he was in charge for fifty years! Hoover ruined lives, invaded good people's privacy, blackmailed politicians and presidents and believed that he was more important than the very Presidents of the United States he served. That Hoover outlasted eight presidents is witness to the degree to which he so diabolically gathered private and potentially damanging information on others. He made himself indispensable because of his potential danger to important people's lives. They surrendered to him.

Puppetmaster is a well told story of one human being, his influence on our nation and at the same time, the tale of a lonely, powerful, arrogant man who was so insecure in himself that he started confusing national interest with his own peculiar needs. And, he got away with it.

A very worthy read!

Daniel J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota

Rating:
Summary: An Unscrupulous Way To Stay In Power
Review: Richard Hack has written a biography that really doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know about J. Edgar Hoover, a strange man who headed the F.B.I. for several decades. Hoover kept files on the skeletons in the closet, both real and imagined, on people whose behavior he wanted to control. Hoover used this blackmail to remain in office throughout the changes in the political climate in Washington. His idea of a good read would be to remain home and sift through the files of various individuals and entertain himself with the perceived weaknesses of others. The man who had files on so many people should have had a file himself. Perhaps it gave him comfort to know others had problems that he had a difficult time facing in himself. He was a glory hunter who wanted the credit to go to him in highly publicized cases such as the cases of John Dillinger and "Baby Face" Nelson. Hoover didn't like the publicity Melvin Purvis got in the Dillinger case, so he had him eventually removed from the F.B.I. Hoover also didn't want to admit to the existence of the mafia. Perhaps he wanted to concentrate on two bit gangsters rather than accept the challenge of organized crime. It's scary to think the F.B.I. had such a strange man at the helm for so many years. The improvements made during his tenure could certainly have been made by someone else during all these years.

Rating:
Summary: Where's the Beef!
Review: Richard Hack's book, "Puppetmaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover", is well documented, concise, and well presented, but I had to ask myself "where's the beef". There is simply nothing new in this biography of America's number one policeman. The book is 407 pages long. I read to page 357 and finally had to lay it down for keeps. There is simply nothing new. The book is well suited for individuals that have very little to no knowledge of the life of J. Edgar Hoover.

I must admit that I was surprised by what I did not find in this volume on Hoover's life. J. Edgar Hoover has always been referred to as the keeper of secrets. You would think that with so many secrets, Richard Hack would have uncovered new, never-presented material, but he didn't. One day some of Hoover's most well kept secrets will be uncovered and a new book will share this discovery with willing readers like myself who want to know. But until then there are no discoveries to be found in "Puppetmaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover".

Rating:
Summary: Where's the Beef!
Review: Richard Hack's book, "Puppetmaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover", is well documented, concise, and well presented, but I had to ask myself "where's the beef". There is simply nothing new in this biography of America's number one policeman. The book is 407 pages long. I read to page 357 and finally had to lay it down for keeps. There is simply nothing new. The book is well suited for individuals that have very little to no knowledge of the life of J. Edgar Hoover.

I must admit that I was surprised by what I did not find in this volume on Hoover's life. J. Edgar Hoover has always been referred to as the keeper of secrets. You would think that with so many secrets, Richard Hack would have uncovered new, never-presented material, but he didn't. One day some of Hoover's most well kept secrets will be uncovered and a new book will share this discovery with willing readers like myself who want to know. But until then there are no discoveries to be found in "Puppetmaster: The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover".