The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America's War on Drugs (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The best way to begin this book is with an account of the Treasury Department's investigation of Arnold Rothstein's worldwide drug-smuggling operation..." (more)
Key Phrases: acting district supervisor, federal drug law enforcement, enforcement assistant, New York, George White, Charlie Siragusa (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Before the Drug Enforcement Administration was created in 1973, before the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs was founded in 1968, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN) served as the country’s primary drug law enforcement agency. In this thoroughly researched history, Valentine (The Phoenix Program; The Hotel Tacloban, etc.) offers an in-depth look at the FBN’s obscure organization and its various activities, which lasted from 1930 until the end of the ‘60s. Valentine writes extensively about Harry J. Anslinger, the commissioner whose "personality, policies and appointments" defined the agency and the government’s war on drugs for more than 30 years. He describes how FBN officers were trained to "make arrests, gather evidence for presentation in court, test and handle seized narcotics, tail suspects without being seen, and rule their informants with an iron fist." Drawing upon interviews with former agents and federal officers (such as Howard Chappell, George Gaffney and Col. Tully Acampora), Valentine also provides firsthand accounts of bureau operations both at home and abroad, and of business relationships fostered among FBN ranks. Despite the volume’s ambitious premise and Valentine’s hard work, however, this lengthy history will probably fail to engross most casual readers since its material proves dense and, occasionally, difficult. But for political historians and those already interested in the history of the war on drugs, Valentine’s unearthing of rare primary sources should prove invaluable. 16 pages of b&w photos
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Review

Encyclopedic in its scope, Valentine's book is an important and necessary story that reads like a coherent speed freak's monologue. -- Ron Jacobs, Counterpunch, 14 May 2004

Valentine's book tells us how we got to where we are. -- Jeffrey St. Clair

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Verso (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1859845681
• ISBN-13: 978-1859845684
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #793,238 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Important but little known history, July 28, 2004

By	D. G Wood - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Based on exhaustive research and interviews, this detailed and extensively footnoted history of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics is both a fine reference work for scholars, and an eye-opening, exciting narrative for the general reader. The book itself is the highest quality, made to last for generations, and includes a section of rare photographs, and an appendix consisting of a rogue's gallery from the FBN's files. The FBN, headed by Harry J. Anslinger, was the precursor agency to today's DEA. The War on Drugs that has been waged for years now, with a price is no object mentality, is now being reconsidered by more and more people as either an ill-considered mistake, or perhaps even as a Big Government/Big Brother monkey on the public's fiscal back. The War has surely not stopped the supply of drugs, and if you have ever thought that it was never intended to, but wondered why that was so, The Strength of The Wolf, will provide some answers. There are many books about drug enforcement (or lack thereof) in the recent past, but this work is unique in that it looks at what might be called the dawn of drug enforcement.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Critical historical context for the War on Drugs, March 19, 2007

By	R. C. O'Brien (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Given how much money this country spends to fight drug dealers and to lock up drug dealers & users both, I am amazed how little I hear people question the War on Drugs.

This book provides the historical framework critical to understand this, with the War on Drugs beginning as an attempt to provide what equates to trade protection to the pharmaceutical companies (who competed with the real thing of the day, opium/heroin), and how later racism led to marijuana users being targeted as well (Black Americans in Harlem and Latinos in the SW and California), and of course the violence fueled by the cocaine/crack trade made it a national buzzword.

It is a crime that this assault on our own citizens continues today - one would think that after the dismal failure of Prohibition that we would have learned our lesson.

Hopefully this book can start raising a consciousness to question it, at the very least more public debate (without the hysteria) is long overdue.

5.0 out of 5 stars exceptional, April 12, 2009

By	Maureen M. Martin "moe mommy" (NEW YORK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I basically bought this book because my Uncle is in it. His name was William A. Carrozo. It was misspelled in the book. However, he recently passed away on March 11, 2009.