The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo [Hardcover]

Gary May (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0300106351 | ISBN-13: 978-0300106350 | Publication Date: May 11, 2005

In The Informant, historian Gary May reveals the untold story of the murder of civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo, shot to death by members of the violent Birmingham Ku Klux Klan at the end of Martin Luther King’s historic Voting Rights March in 1965. The case drew national attention and was solved almost instantly, because one of the Klansman present during the shooting was Gary Thomas Rowe, an undercover FBI informant. At the time, Rowe’s information and subsequent testimony were heralded as a triumph of law enforcement. But as Gary May reveals in this provocative and powerful book, Rowe’s history of collaboration with both the Klan and the FBI was far more complex.
Based on previously unexamined FBI and Justice Department Records, The Informant demonstrates that in their ongoing efforts to protect Rowe’s cover, the FBI knowingly became an accessory to some of the most grotesque crimes of the Civil Rights era--including a vicious attack on the Freedom Riders and perhaps even the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
A tale of a renegade informant and an intelligence system ill-prepared to deal with threats from within, The Informant offers a dramatic and cautionary tale about what can happen when secret police power goes unchecked.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. May, whose previous explorations of American history in works such as Un-American Activities: The Trials of William Remington were critically acclaimed for their vivid writing and painstaking research, has turned his formidable talents to restoring a controversial episode in the civil rights struggle. While slain activist Viola Liuzzo is far from a household name today, her murder in 1965 at the hands of the Ku Klux Klan immediately after the Selma, Ala., voting rights march was a national sensation. President Johnson kept close tabs on the investigation. When suspects were taken into custody almost immediately, it seemed that J. Edgar Hoover's FBI was doing its job brilliantly; federal informant Gary Thomas Rowe, who fingered the suspects, had infiltrated the Alabama Klan five years earlier. But as May lucidly describes, Rowe's own role in the murder was suspicious, and his experiences with the KKK, which often crossed the line dividing observer from participant, linked him with other notorious race crimes of the era, including the Birmingham church bombing. May succeeds brilliantly at weaving his threads into an engrossing narrative, even while maintaining the three-dimensional humanity of both Liuzzo and Rowe. Contemporary resonance is provided by linking the FBI's handling of Rowe with the challenges today's bureau faces in the war on terror, which must also rely on unscrupulous and violent informants. This is popular history at its best and shines a long overdue light on a dark chapter in the FBI's past. (June)
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Review

“Gary May’s page-turner is a demonstration that truth can be stranger than fiction. His book is a cautionary tale about secret government in general and the misuse of secret agents in particular. Part biography, part history, May’s book is a window on personalities and events essential to our understanding of the Civil Rights era of the 1960s.”—Robert Dallek

“The Informant is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner.”—Richard Gid Powers, author of Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI

"The Informant is an important book. As a wonderful storyteller and historian, Gary May uses a dramatic 1965 Civil Rights murder to tell the fascinating account of an FBI informant system that had careened out of control. Breaking new ground with his prodigious research, May takes readers back to the 1960s, inside the violent world of the Ku Klux Klan and the strife that was splitting America. May vividly demonstrates the danger of fighting today’s terrorists by relying on violent informants operating in a criminal netherworld with no fear of arrest. The Informant is a riveting and cautionary tale for modern times."—Gerald Posner, author of Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11
 

(Gerald Posner )

"The Informant is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner."—Richard Gid Powers, author of Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI

(Richard Gid Powers )

"Gary May’s page-turner is a demonstration that truth can be stranger than fiction. His book is a cautionary tale about secret government in general and the misuse of secret agents in particular. Part biography, part history, May’s book is a window on personalities and events essential to our understanding of the civil rights era of the 1960s."— Robert Dallek

(Robert Dallek )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (May 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300106351
• ISBN-13: 978-0300106350
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,372,196 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Los Angeles and reared in a family of composers and writers. My grandfather, M.K. Jerome, was a Warner Brothers' songwriter whose credits included Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and many more classic films. His songs "Some Sunday Morning" (from San Antonio) and "Sweet Dreams, Sweetheart" (from "Hollywood Canteen") were nominated for Academy Awards for Best Song. My uncle, Stuart Jerome, was a veteran television writer from the 1950s until his death in 1983. He wrote for "Highway Patrol," Science Fiction Theatre," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," "M Squad" and "The Fugitive." This background had a profound effect on how I write history. I'm a storyteller who approaches great historical events cinematically, reconstructing through a dramatic narrative the lives of Americans forever changed by historical events.
My first two books deals with how America's secret government, embodied by Harry S. Truman Federal Employee Loyalty Program and the license given to the FBI, ruined the lives of career diplomat John Carter Vincent (China Scapegoat) and government economist William Remington (Un-American Activities). Both also discussed the role played by the FBI during the McCarthy era. My next book, The Informant, sheds light on the FBI's secret informant system, used widely against the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements in the 1960s.
In 2006, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. invited me to write about John Tyler, our tenth President, for The American Presidents Series, published by Times Books.To my surprise, I discovered how a forgotten 19th century U.S. President, John Tyler, also used secret government agents to further his policies, planting the seeds which later grew into the Imperial Presidency, ruining the lives of my 20th century subjects. John Tyler was published in December, 2008, and was an alternate selection of Book-of-the-Month Club, the History Boook Club, and the Military Book Club. Currently, I'm writing a history of the Voting Rights Act for Basic Books' "Basic Issues" series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A poor depiction, December 28, 2008

By 

Sally G. Prado "Sally Liuzzo Prado" (OR, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo (Kindle Edition)

As the daughter of Viola Liuzzo, I would like to comment that my family was not pleased at all by this book. There were many inaccuracies and the writer made no attempt at all to consult with our family. In Contrast, "From Selma to Sorrow" by Mary Stanton is an accurate depiction of our mother and the events surrounding her death. Mary gave careful consideration to accurately report on the incident, without sensationalizing just to sell more copies. This is yet another attempt by someone to exploit my family for personal gain.
Sally Liuzzo

5.0 out of 5 stars Former student of Prof. Gary May, February 12, 2011

By 

Sarah Jeanne Maguire (Newark, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo (Hardcover)

Well written, fascinating account of the murder of Viola Liuzzo. I've never been one for tales of FBI informants, but this story is so engaging that it's hard to put down.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Gary May has never spoken to or met Viola Liuzzo's sister, February 10, 2010

By 

Rose Mary Lemming (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Informant: The FBI, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Murder of Viola Liuzzo (Hardcover)

I am Viola Liuzzo's sister and have never met or spoken to Gary May. Shame on him for telling such a lie.
Rose Mary Sprout Lemming