FBI Agent starts at the bottom, becomes one of the most recognized infiltrators of the NYC L.C.N. during the 60s and 70s. Raises questions of FBI commitment to stopping organized crime, and in-house FBI corruption; to that point a topic that always went undiscussed.

Athan Theoharis' Chasing Spies tells how the FBI failed in counterintelligence but succeeded in promoting McCarthyism during the Cold War. Chapters focus on the failure of the organization to apprehend and convict Soviet agents, their rejection of information which could have been used against suspected spies, and the efforts of the agency and Hoover to use the information for personal gain.

If you are looking for the FBI to investigate misconduct-Don't!!!

Since my legal difficulties began over four years ago (now going on five), I have seen and read many articles about the atrocities occurring within the prison systems and the hope by some that the FBI, like the Lone Ranger, would come riding to the rescue. Only recently I have happened upon a book that upon reviewing should send those looking for a fab FBI hostage team to come to your aid - well - "forgitaboutit."

Thanks to the Internet, more information is available to all of us - not just the privileged elite. A book, well worth reading, which was found surfing the Internet, is entitled Cloak and Gavel: FBI Wiretaps, Bugs, Informers and the Supreme Court by Alexander Charns. The author, an attorney located in Durham, N.C., filed a freedom of information act lawsuit in order to obtain some documents. Revelations from the material obtained from the lawsuit point to a scheme by the FBI, which amounts to a nothing more than judicial shakedowns in efforts to obtain favorable rulings for law enforcement in the courts. From the papers received by Charns, the time frame for this extortion stretches from 1935 to 1989 and leads one to believe that the process is ongoing.

These actions ranged from seemingly innocuous "throwing out the red carpet treatment" for newly appointed judges and their law clerks, taking and providing 8 x 10 glossies at taxpayer expense of their visit to FBI offices to a rather Stalinsque effort to leak "confidential information" that the agency collected while doing background checks. This information, if released, could cause judges and other court personnel embarrassment.

"Play ball with us or else."

Additional strategies, considered and implemented, called for identifying "court informants" to provide a heads up on any lawsuits, which would challenge law enforcement efforts or be adversarial to the FBI. These court informants would provide "confidential information" of the discussions behind the "closed" chambers doors and furnish the opportunity for the FBI to gain leverage and prevent any ambushes that would dilute their and other law enforcement powers. The knowledge was then passed along to the appropriate persons within the Attorney General's office. An informal arrangement was established in which FBI agents and U.S. attorneys were and are now more welcome in the chambers of justices and judges than "defense lawyers or citizens." Can you spell ex parte?

The plan also called for the FBI to "educate" naïve federal judges about law enforcement. It was the agency's hope that "they could be a tremendous force for keeping some of these stupid appellate opinions from coming out." Would this effect a decision to "publish" or "unpublish" an opinion?

Of course all of this smacks of currying favor by the FBI and "most other federal agencies, and some state agencies [which] are doing the same thing."

So if you are looking for the FBI to investigate misconduct within the prisons, by prison personnel, or any other government misconduct for that matter, I guess that old Southern colloquialism applies here. "You can't have the fox guarding the chicken coop."

Cointelpro by Nelson Blackstock is a close and penetrating look at the illegal FBI counterintelligence program code-named COINTELPRO. Brought to light by a lawsuit filed in 1973 and settled thirteen years later, the COINTELPRO program, its methods for political disruption, techniques used by the FBI, CIA, and military intelligence, are all covered in-depth in this shocking and fascinating account. Enhanced with an introduction by Noam Chomsky, Cointelpro is especially timely reading in view of the radical measures being passed into law and implemented under the aegis of Homeland Security.

A good amount of information on the manufacturers and artists responsible for a multitude of collectible lines. Includes a comprehensive listing of who offers member benefits for the increasingly popular Collector Clubs. Page after page offering immediate access to official item numbers, issue year and quantity, original issue price and the all-important current market value. Take one of these with you on your next trip to an antique mall. No longer will you pass on great bargains because, "you just didn't have any idea what it was worth".

this is one of the best guides I have found that has all of the price values on all of the different items that I collect. It is very easy to use and find the different values you would need to keep your collection up to date on its true value. A great 5 star rating...

When I picked up this book, I had not studied the Civil War since high school, and knew little more than the basics. After reading it, I have a much more vibrant picture of the Confederacy, and especially of the reasons why the South lost. In view of what Moore reveals, I'm astounded the Confederacy survived as long as it did! Moore has done a masterful job of primary and obscure-secondary source research (he quotes the primary sources extensively, adding much interest to the narrative), piecing together the intricate puzzle of subsistence in the Confederacy. The influences on and factors affecting subsistence permeate the entire history of the war, encompassing physical geography, land exhaustion, rife speculation, egotistical generals, corrupt officials, dithering beaurocrats, rickety railroads, salt mines, currency devaluation, careless strategists, hog cholera, personal vendettas, blockade runners, vicious media, and a slew of other factors that wove the complex web of failure.

In the course of the book, familiar characters such as Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and southern generals Beauregard, Bragg, and Johnston are fleshed out, offering the reader either new appreciation or condemnation. Northrop himself is presented as a man completely honest and dutiful, though entirely lacking personal charm. He was a man with an impossible job, frustrated at nearly every turn, and then generally blamed for each shortage or failure. After reading this book, the reader cannot help but sympathize with Northrop, as well as understand his plight and the plight of the South.

My only complaints with the book were that I often got lost in the plethora of names; a repetition of the individual's role whenever he or she is mentioned would have helped, or perhaps a character list at the beginning of the book. Also helpful would have been a reference map encompassing the geography of the Civil War, for those of us who have forgotten those high school classes and can't recall exactly where Chancellorsville or Chickamauga are.

Overall, I found this a dense and fascinating book.

The organization of this book, chapters arranged by materials and technologies and projects described without established typological or functional pattern, focus on the work of Richter and Dahl-Rocha from the emphasis it is based on: the materiality of architecture and the nature of construction as the deep truth of built things. This topic is presented along a superb series of projects, cleearly conceived and cleanly developed, and with documents that include inciting conceptual sketches, precise photographies and revealing working drawings. The texts by Liernur and Gubler included in the book help to locate its content within the disciplinary generalities supporting it and the cultural specificities of this partnership. The brief project descriptions describe them with precission, without interfering with the documentation, but guiding the complete reading of the work.

A rare find. This book is packed with information gathered by a large number of researchers in the field of epileptology. It shakes off the tired pronouncements laid down by previous generations of neurolgists who were incumbered by the technology of their time. Epilepsy care is an area in which those at the cutting edge are in vastly different territory than the rest of medical practitioners. Those of you looking for info about this topic will find it very satisfying. The care of children with LKS and CSWS and ESES is discussed from many perspectives. Each monograph gives a different insight. Each case study sheds new light on this illness. An illness that does not follow the rules. Reading about these cases one cannot fail to appreciate the complexity of this problem and the need to broaden our knowledge.

This cookbook is so wonderful that everyone that I've lent it to has to have their own copy. Cookbook 25 Years is filled with down home recipies that are easy made and taste wonderful.