The FBI: A History

Jeffreys-Jones, Rhodri

ISBN 10: 0300119143 / ISBN 13: 9780300119145

Editore: Yale University Press, 2007

Good condition ex-library book with usual library markings and stickers. Codice articolo 00095269314

Riassunto:

This fast-paced history of the FBI presents the first balanced and complete portrait of the vast, powerful, and sometimes bitterly criticized American institution. Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones, a well-known expert on U.S. intelligence agencies, tells the bureaus story in the context of American history. Along the way he challenges conventional understandings of that story and assesses the FBIs strengths and weaknesses as an institution.

Common wisdom traces the origin of the bureau to 1908, but Jeffreys-Jones locates its true beginnings in the 1870s, when Congress acted in response to the Ku Klux Klan campaign of terror against black American voters. The character and significance of the FBI derive from this original mission, the author contends, and he traces the evolution of the mission into the twenty-first century.

The book makes a number of surprising observations: that the role of J. Edgar Hoover has been exaggerated and the importance of attorneys general underestimated, that splitting counterintelligence between the FBI and the CIA in 1947 was a mistake, and that xenophobia impaired the bureaus preemptive anti-terrorist powers before and after 9/11. The author concludes with a fresh consideration of todays FBI and the increasingly controversial nature of its responsibilities.

Informazioni sull?autore:

Rhodri Jeffreys-Jones is professor emeritus of American history, Edinburgh University. His previous books include The CIA and American Democracy, Peace Now! American Society and the Ending of the Vietnam War, and Cloak and Dollar: A History of American Secret Intelligence, all published by Yale University Press.

Dati bibliografici

Titolo: The FBI: A History
Casa editrice: Yale University Press
Data di pubblicazione: 2007
Legatura: Rilegato
Condizione: Good