The FBI: 100 Years

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is considered by many to be the premier law enforcement agency in our country today. Where did it come from? Why was it established? What does it do? Who provides it authority to do so? When I was first approached to review what I saw as essentially a history book I wasn't too enthused. I mean, that's not my idea of recreational reading. But I kept an open mind and I'm glad I did. This book proved interesting in many ways for anyone who serves (or has served) in law enforcement.

Now I'm not one to usually sit and read such a book for relaxation. Indeed, unless you have - as your hobby - an interest in the Federal Bureau of Investigation or government entities in general, I don't think this would be relaxing reading. However, if you are interested in law enforcement either through your employment or for another purpose, this book may well provide you some insights you'd not otherwise find. For instance, I didn't know that although the Department of Justice was formed by an act of Congress in 1870, it wasn't until 1908 that Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte put together the first force of investigators which evolved into our modern day FBI. The term "Federal Bureau of Investigation" wasn't used until 1935.

Full of interesting illustrations, this 249 page book has nine chapters plus the foreword, an index and five appendicies. The Chapters include:

1. The "Wild West" Years
2. J. Edgar Hoover
3. Gangbusters
4. Blacklists, Blackmail, and McCarthyism
5. Civil Rights, the KKK, and Political Unrest
6. Bringing Down the Syndicate
7. Spybusters
8. Standoffs Gone Bad
9. Sneak and Peek

Because of my family's stories about the Mafia I thought I'd be very interested in Chapter Six about the FBI bringing down "the syndicate". As things worked out I found the most interesting chapter to be #8 about Standoffs Gone Bad - because the events at Ruby Ridge and Waco are addressed therein. Being very pro-2nd Amendment those events interested me a great deal.

The other parts of the book... although I didn't think I'd find them of interest, proved very interesting reading for two primary reason (to me):

1. As I said, the book is full of illustrations. Everything from copies of documents to photographs are contained therein. Some of the photographs show the absolute worst in the history of the United States. People like Dillinger and organizations like the KKK.
2. The photographs are accompanied by information about the photo topics. Reading some parts made me proud to be an American. Reading other parts made me wonder what direction the country was going in at that point in time.

As I read through it I realized that the book is best read in discreet chunks. Pick a section... read it... look at the pictures... reread the sections and understand what you're looking at. Take the time to understand what you're reading and be able to remember some of the tidbits because when you read a different section it will be more interesting when you can make those connections. Every now and then, even though I've read through the book, I'll go back to different sections to verify or reverify something I read.

The book is hardback with a dustcover. The retail price on the inside of the dustcover is $40. A quick search online found it for as low as $26.28. And I should note that although the book's subtitle is "An Unofficial History", the FBI did cooperate with the author, Henry Holden, by granting him access to photo files and other materials.

Check it out. It's an interesting read.