Masters of Deceit

J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, has been much maligned in our day, but this book, written in 1958, presents us with insights into the activities of Communism in the United States from the perspective of the day.

Although many have discounted Hoover’s account, it’s striking to me that many of the tactics Hoover describes are strikingly similar to those we find encouraged some 15 years later in Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.

Also, substitute the word “Jihadist” for “Communist”, and the book could have been written in the 21st Century. And in some places we could substitute the word “cult” for “party”, and we would have a universal description for how controlling religious movements capture and retain the true believer.

Fascinating book.