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For nearly fifty years, J. Edgar Hoover held great power in the United States. The creator of the FBI and its Director until his death, he played a role in nearly every major tragedy and scandal in America during the twentieth century. Hoover was lauded when he died as an American hero. Anthony Summers' controversial bestseller, "Official & Confidential, The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover", draws on more than 800 interviews to explode the myths, exposing the dark secrets that remained hidden throughout Hoover's lifetime. Hoover used his intimate knowledge of the John F. Kennedy's sex life to ensure that Lyndon B. Johnson became Vice President, and suppressed evidence about J.F.K's assassination. Hoover himself, meanwhile, was a closet homosexual, which allegedly led to him being blackmailed by the Mafia. This fascinating book reveals that even Hoover's death, on the eve of Watergate, was clouded with mystery. Witnesses have indicated that, in the panic over the secrets he was holding over President Nixon, an operation was mounted to break into his house - possibly even to murder him.

Reviews

"I read Official and Confidential with mounting horror, fascination, revulsion... Enthralling" -- Paul Theroux "Summers' book is not just a history of a single hero-sized hypocrite, it is a history of a vast national delusion" -- Hilary Mantel Spectator "The exposure we have been waiting for these last forty years" -- Norman Mailer "Garbage... Innuendo, lies" -- Cartha Deloach, Former Close Aide To Hoover "The book is more exciting, and more damning, than the film...This is bold, excoriating, unmissable stuff." Independent on Sunday

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• Illustrations: Illustrations, ports.