"A Record of an Agency That’s Failed"

"The harder truth is that most presidents since Woodrow Wilson have been less intimidated by the F.B.I. than seduced by it. Under the rubric of protecting the nation, they secretly authorized the F.B.I. to open mail, infiltrate political parties, tap phones, perform 'black bag' break-ins of homes and institutions, and draw up vast lists of Americans eligible for 'custodial detention' during a crisis.

"Or at least Hoover said they did."

Kevin Baker in The New York Times reviews Tim Weiner's Enemies: A History of the FBI.