{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20261010T034321Z-reviewed-full-unique-works","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0763650250?tag=bookfrontie00-20","asin":"0763650250","authors":["Marc Aronson"],"book_id":"9780763650254","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/master-of-deceit-9780763650254","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780763650254.jpg?v=c366ad4e970d14e8","description":"A fascinating and timely biography of J. Edgar Hoover from a Sibert Medalist. \"King, there is only one thing left for you to do. You know what it is. . . . You better take it before your filthy, abnormal, fraudulent self is bared to the nation.” Dr. Martin Luther King received this demand in an anonymous letter in 1964. He believed that the letter was telling him to commit suicide. Who wrote this anonymous letter? The FBI. And the man behind it all was J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's first director. In this unsparing exploration of one of the most powerful Americans of the twentieth century, accomplished historian Marc Aronson unmasks the man behind the Bureau- his tangled family history and personal relationships; his own need for secrecy, deceit, and control; and the broad trends in American society that shaped his world. Hoover may have given America the security it wanted, but the secrets he knew gave him — and the Bureau — all the power he wanted. Using photographs, cartoons, movie posters, and FBI transcripts, Master of Deceit gives readers the necessary evidence to make their own conclusions. Here is a book about the twentieth century that blazes with questions and insights about our choices in the twenty-first. Back matter includes an epilogue, an author’s note, source notes, a bibliography, and an index.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780763650254","publication_date":"20120410","publisher":"Candlewick Press","slug":"master-of-deceit","subtitle":"J. Edgar Hoover and America in the Age of Lies","title":"Master of Deceit"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century America","score":0.735,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN025220","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th Century America for Teens","score":0.7306,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036070","confidence_band":"medium","label":"21st-Century America","score":0.7219,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS036060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th-Century America","score":0.735,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"YAN025220","confidence_band":"medium","label":"20th Century America for Teens","score":0.7306,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS036070","confidence_band":"medium","label":"21st-Century America","score":0.7219,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"YAN006070","confidence_band":"high","label":"Political Lives","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"YAN025220","confidence_band":"high","label":"20th Century America for Teens","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"YAN052040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Politics & Government for Teens","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"20th-Century America","score":0.735,"slug":"20th-century-america"},{"label":"20th Century America for Teens","score":0.7306,"slug":"20th-century-america-for-teens"},{"label":"21st-Century America","score":0.7219,"slug":"21st-century-america"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI's influence","Readers exploring secrecy and power in twentieth-century America"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["David H Lawrence XVII","Nathan Masters","Grand Central Publishing","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9780306826139","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780306826139.jpg?v=cc36e9e14cf75e91","score":0.6903,"title":"Crooked","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780306826139"},{"authors":["Donald Jeffries","Dr. Ron Paul"],"book_id":"9781510769106","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781510769106.jpg?v=7f4b38b49f3e3ebd","score":0.6759,"title":"Crimes and Cover-ups in American Politics","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781510769106"},{"authors":["Tim Weiner"],"book_id":"9780812979237","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780812979237.jpg?v=26b68da88a075607","score":0.6701,"title":"Enemies","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780812979237"},{"authors":["David Talbot"],"book_id":"9780062276179","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780062276179.jpg?v=e339ea0c5be2b656","score":0.6688,"title":"The Devil's Chessboard","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780062276179"},{"authors":["Donald Jeffries","Roger Stone"],"book_id":"9781510705371","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781510705371.jpg?v=84b8ca32111947e7","score":0.6636,"title":"Hidden History","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781510705371"},{"authors":["Matthew Connelly","Chris Henry Coffey","Random House Audio","& 0 more"],"book_id":"9781101973677","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781101973677.jpg?v=b5139c7a75e30658","score":0.6576,"title":"The Declassification Engine","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781101973677"},{"authors":["John Lisle"],"book_id":"9781250838483","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250838483.jpg?v=44d2b5b40bf48cd4","score":0.6524,"title":"The Dirty Tricks Department","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250838483"},{"authors":["Jonathan Eig"],"book_id":"9780374393106","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780374393106.jpg?v=33048f1589d32be2","score":0.6524,"title":"King: a Life","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780374393106"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:us history"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:nonfiction books for teens"],"label":"Teens","score":0.0896,"slug":"teens"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:biography"],"label":"Biography","score":0.0744,"slug":"biography"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Hoover's secrecy and control, FBI power and influence, Twentieth-century American society.","Pacing: reflective, voice-and-character forward.","Themes: History, Teens, Biography."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.88,"pacing":"reflective","reader_fit":["Readers interested in J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI's influence","Readers exploring secrecy and power in twentieth-century America"],"themes":["Hoover's secrecy and control","FBI power and influence","Twentieth-century American society"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":451,"goodreads_reviews_count":93,"quality_score":0.899}}