By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The FBI and its notoriously paranoid director J. Edgar Hoover spied on prominent African American writers for decades, monitoring their activities and critiquing their work. The Guardian reports that newly declassified documents from the FBI show extensive surveillance of black writers and scholars, including Langston Hughes, James Baldwin and Claude McKay….
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A good FBI agent can make friends with just about anyone. Now a former agent, Jack Schafer, is sharing the tricks of the trade in a new book, “The Like Switch,” which is written for people to use in their everyday lives. Schafer, who worked as behavioral therapist for the bureau…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A former DEA agent has uncovered fascinating details of his undercover career in a book entitled, “The Dar Art: Inside the World’s Most Dangerous Narco-Terrorist Organization.” Ed Follis talked with St. Louis Public radio about the book. “The book was cathartic,” Follis said. “I finally looked back on all those days…
By Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A retired FBI special agent has published a book in which he describes his inadequate training at a new agent class at the academy in Quantico, Va., the Officer.com reports. Entitled “FBI: Animal House,” the book alleges that the training was subpar and didn’t rise to the level of education by…
By Aamer Madhani USA Today On the first-year anniversary of a national tragedy, it’s inevitable for the so-called definitive account to be rolled out by publishers calculating that enough time has passed for an author to have developed perspective, but not so much time that the calamity is no longer fresh in the public’s conscience….
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com The Justice Department has switched its position and said an ATF agent may publish a book about the agency’s bungled gun smuggling sting operation “Fast and Furious,” the Associated Press reports. The department said it was notifying the ACLU, which is representing ATF agent John Dodson, that the book could be published….
Steve Neavling ticklethethewire.com Investigative journalist Trevor Aaronson has caused quite a stir since the release of his new book, “The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism.” Claiming in his book that most terrorism suspects could never have carried out an attack without the help of the FBI, Aaronson spoke at length with…
Steve Neavling ticklethewire.com A retired FBI agent and newspaper reporter have written a book about the bizarre bank heist involving a pipe bomb that exploded around the neck of a pizza delivery driver, the Associated Press reports. The book, “Pizza Bomber: The Untold Story of America’s Most Shocking Bank Robbery,” was released Tuesday. The idea…
