Customer Reviews

The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

The more times I use this book as a reference, the more I find. To call it a wealth of information is to wildly understate the case. It is more like a bottomless pit...

At first glance, the book's most impressive attribute is the large number of documents which are reproduced (a picture's worth a thousand words, I guess). But then one find's one's self getting caught up in the explanatory narrative, and the documents shift into their proper background or ullustrational focus. And then there's the notes, hundreds of them, each brimming with detailed explanations of particular points, citations, suggested readings.

There's just no end to it. If one were to be allowed only one book on the FBI, this would definitiely be it!

Any chance the authors will be updating it any time soon?

I feel this book is an excellent resource in realizing the history our government has being prejudice. This book details the ideals of the COINTELPRO (COunter INTELligence PROgram), the progam that was created by the FBI in order to stop the progress that blacks, hispanics, and women had been making in the 60's and 70's. I feel it is a necessity to have and/or read if you are currently studying the history of political rights. A real quick shout-out to Zack de la Rocha of Rage Against the Machine for helping me discover this book by using a piece of it in his song 'Wake Up'.

This is an excellent and well-written book. It is accessible and well documented. Some of the facts are stunning, which makes for a good reminder: if you aren't angry then you aren't paying attention. I highly encourage you to give it a read; it isn't a waste of time since it is such a fast page-turner and b/c it is riddled with information. You might as well take a look at what we are subsidizing.