Gman (Pulitzer Prize Winner): J. Edgar Hoover And The Making Of The American Century

Winner Of The 2023 Pulitzer Prize In Biographywinner Of The 2022 National Book Critics Circle Award In Biography, The 2023 Bancroft Prize In American History And Diplomacy, And The 43Rd La Times Book Prize In Biography Finalist For The 2023 Pen/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award For Biographynamed A Best Book Of 2022 By The Atlantic, The Washington Post And Smithsonian Magazine And A New York Times Top 100 Notable Books Of 2022Masterfulthis Book Is An Enduring, Formidable Accomplishment, A Monument To The Power Of Biography [That] Now Becomes The Definitive Workthe Washington Posta Nuanced Portrait In A League With The Best Of Ron Chernow And David Mccullough.The Wall Street Journala Major New Biography Of J Edgar Hoover That Draws From Neverbeforeseen Sources To Create A Groundbreaking Portrait Of A Colossus Who Dominated Half A Century Of American History And Planted The Seeds For Much Of Today'S Conservative Political Landscape.We Remember Him As A Bulldogsquat Frame, Bulging Wideset Eyes, Fearsome Jowlsbut In 1924, When He Became Director Of The Fbi, He Had Been The Trim, Dazzling Wunderkind Of The Administrative State, Buzzing With Energy And Big Ideas For Reform. He Transformed A Failing Lawenforcement Backwater, Riddled With Scandal, Into A Modern Machine. He Believed In The Power Of The Federal Government To Do Great Things For The Nation And Its Citizens. He Also Believed That Certain Peoplemany Of Them Communists Or Racial Minorities Or Both Did Not Deserve To Be Included In That American Project. Hoover Rose To Power And Then Stayed There, Decade After Decade, Using The Tools Of State To Create A Personal Fiefdom Unrivaled In U.S. History.Beverly Gages Monumental Work Explores The Full Sweep Of Hoovers Life And Career, From His Birth In 1895 To A Modest Washington Civilservice Family Through His Death In 1972. In Her Nuanced And Definitive Portrait, Gage Shows How Hoover Was More Than A Onedimensional Tyrant And Schemer Who Strongarmed The Rest Of The Country Into Submission. As Fbi Director From 1924 Through His Death In 1972, He Was A Confidant, Counselor, And Adversary To Eight U.S. Presidents, Four Republicans And Four Democrats. Franklin Roosevelt And Lyndon Johnson Did The Most To Empower Him, Yet His Closest Friend Among The Eight Was Fellow Anticommunist Warrior Richard Nixon. Hoover Was Not Above Blackmail And Intimidation, But He Also Embodied Conservative Values Ranging From Anticommunism To White Supremacy To A Crusading And Politicized Interpretation Of Christianity. This Garnered Him The Admiration Of Millions Of Americans. He Stayed In Office For So Long Because Many People, From The Highest Reaches Of Government Down To The Grassroots, Wanted Him There And Supported What He Was Doing, Thus Creating The Template That The Political Right Has Followed To Transform Its Party.Gman Places Hoover Back Where He Once Stood In American Political Historynot At The Fringes, But At The Centerand Uses His Story To Explain The Trajectories Of Governance, Policing, Race, Ideology, Political Culture, And Federal Power As They Evolved Over The Course Of The 20Th Century.