Enemies, Tim Weiner
Enemies, Tim Weiner
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Enemies
A History of the FBI

Author: Tim Weiner

Narrator: Stefan Rudnicki

Unabridged: 18 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/14/2012


Synopsis

“Turns the long history of the FBI into a story that is as compelling, and important, as today’s headlines.”—Jeffrey Toobin, author of American Heiress

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post, New York Daily News, and Slate

Enemies is the first definitive history of the FBI’s secret intelligence operations, from an author whose work on the Pentagon and the CIA won him the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

We think of the FBI as America’s police force. But secret intelligence is the Bureau’s first and foremost mission. Enemies is the story of how presidents have used the FBI as the most formidable intelligence force in American history.

Here is the hidden history of America’s hundred-year war on terror. The FBI has fought against terrorists, spies, anyone it deemed subversive—and sometimes American presidents. The FBI’s secret intelligence and surveillance techniques have created a tug-of-war between protecting national security and infringing upon civil liberties. It is a tension that strains the very fabric of a free republic.

Praise for Enemies

“Pulitzer Prize–winning author Tim Weiner has written a riveting inside account of the FBI’s secret machinations that goes so deep into the Bureau’s skulduggery, readers will feel they are tapping the phones along with J. Edgar Hoover. This is a book that every American who cares about civil liberties should read.”—Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money

“Outstanding.”—The New York Times

“Absorbing . . . a sweeping narrative that is all the more entertaining because it is so redolent with screw-ups and scandals.”—Los Angeles Times

“Fascinating.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Important and disturbing . . . with all the verve and coherence of a good spy thriller.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Exciting and fast-paced.”—The Daily Beast

About The Author

Tim Weiner has won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting and writing on secret intelligence and national security. As a correspondent for The New York Times, he covered the Central Intelligence Agency in Washington and terrorism in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Sudan, and other nations. Enemies is his fourth book. His Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA won the National Book Award and was acclaimed as one of the year’s best books by The New York Times, The Economist, The Washington Post, Time, and many other publications. The Wall Street Journal called Betrayal “the best book ever written on a case of espionage.” He is now working on a history of the American military.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Michael on June 04, 2017

Tim Weiner's Enemies: A History of the FBI is an interesting book about the FBI's straddling the line between legal and illegal pursuit of criminals. The book spends a lot of time discussing the career and legacy of J Edgar Hoover dispelling myths (most evidence discounts the commonly held belief th......more

Goodreads review by Mara on July 27, 2018

"A free people must have both security and liberty. They are warring forces, yet we cannot have one without the other." When William Webster became Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1978, he was shocked to find that the FBI, spawned from the Bureau of Investigation in 19......more

Goodreads review by Bill on May 22, 2017

J. Edgar Hoover is the main character in this book, at least for the first 2/3rds, and if there was ever any question that Hoover is one of the most consequential people in American history, that question no longer exists in my mind. But the Hoover of the book surprised me: my mind's eye had always......more

Goodreads review by Jason on August 15, 2012

Reading this book i realized a couple things i didn't know before. One, that J. Edgar Hoover was probably the most powerful man in American history, only because of the amount of sway that he had on just about anyone. And two, that the FBI is this weird mix of 1984 and the Wizard of Oz, where you ha......more

Goodreads review by Murtaza on August 05, 2018

An informative disturbing book on the history of the FBI, which at its worst moments has functioned as something like the United States version of the Stasi. As the book describes, for the first half century after its creation it was the tool of one man alone, J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover turned the bure......more


Quotes

“Turns the long history of the FBI into a story that is as compelling, and important, as today’s headlines.”—Jeffrey Toobin, author of American Heiress
 
“Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tim Weiner has written a riveting inside account of the FBI’s secret machinations that goes so deep into the Bureau’s skulduggery, readers will feel they are tapping the phones along with J. Edgar Hoover. This is a book that every American who cares about civil liberties should read.”—Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money

“Outstanding.”The New York Times

“Fascinating.”The Wall Street Journal

“Absorbing . . . a sweeping narrative that is all the more entertaining because it is so redolent with screw-ups and scandals.”Los Angeles Times
 
“Important and disturbing . . . with all the verve and coherence of a good spy thriller.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Exciting and fast-paced.”The Daily Beast

“Pulitzer-Prize–winning author Tim Weiner has written a riveting inside account of the FBI’s secret machinations that goes so deep into the Agency’s skullduggery, readers will feel they are tapping the phones along with J. Edgar Hoover. This is a book that every American who cares about civil liberties should read.”—Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money
 
Enemies is a research masterpiece. Picking through seventy thousand newly declassified documents and using on-the-record interviews, Weiner reveals startling new truths and debunks nagging old myths about the FBI. Enemies reads like a thriller, but don’t let the heart-pumping prose fool you. Weiner has written a scholarly tour de force that will be an instant classic for any serious student of American national security.”—Amy B. Zegart, Ph.D., Stanford University, author of Spying Blind
 
“Tim Weiner’s Enemies is the most comprehensive history of the FBI as an intelligence agency we have ever had. Based on extensive research in previously unavailable materials, Weiner gives us a fresh way to think about J. Edgar Hoover, the many presidents he worked with, and the FBI as a national security agency. The book is also a cautionary tale that is essential reading for anyone concerned about American civil liberties.”—Robert Dallek, author of An Unfinished Life