Biography & Autobiography

G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)

Name: G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner)
Author: Beverly Gage
ISBN: 9780593511466

by Beverly Gage

Available on Bookshop Available on Amazon Write a review

Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.

Overview

Beverly Gage’s monumental work explores the full sweep of Hoover’s life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family to a strongarm for white supremacists and the politicized Christian right, serving ...

Synopsis

Now in paperback, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of J Edgar Hoover deemed "Masterful…an enduring, formidable accomplishment, a monument to the power of biography [that] now becomes the definitive work”by The Washington Post (and everywhere else) "Revelatory...an acknowledgment of the complexities that made Hoover who he was, while charging the turbulent currents that eventually swept him aside."—The New York Times G-Man is the 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. Hoover transformed a scandal-riddled law-enforcement backwater, into a modern machine—one just as oppressive as it was promising. He rose to power and then stayed there, decade after decade, using the tools of the state to create a personal fiefdom unrivaled in U.S. history. Beverly Gage’s monumental work explores the full sweep of Hoover’s life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family to a strongarm for white supremacists and the politicized Christian right, serving eight presidents. G-Man places Hoover back where he once stood in American political history--not at the fringes, but at the center--and 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. “[A] crisply written, prodigiously researched, and frequently astonishing new biography”—The New Yorker “Gage’s penetrating account of Hoover’s career, especially his many long-eclipsed triumphs, offers a well-timed and sobering perspective as yet another institution in our fractured country struggles to maintain trust.” -The Atlantic “Gage’s triumph is her deft navigation through Hoover’s 'deep state,' while reminding us of the abuse of power that remains his enduring legacy.”—The Boston Globe