In ‘G-Man,’ Yale historian takes a nuanced look at caricatured FBI director

For nearly a half-century, J. Edgar Hoover was director of the FBI or its precursor. A rabid anti-Communist now known for his own law-breaking — specifically, for his secret surveillance of American citizens — he is often caricatured as a bulldog.

But in her new biography “G-Man: J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century”(Viking), Yale historian Beverly Gage reveals new information about the legendary government man (“G-man’) and portrays him as a complicated person, one full of contradictions. The book was listed among the top 10 books of 2022 by the Washington Post, the Atlantic, and Publishers Weekly, and was on The New York Times’ list of the 100 best books of 2022.  The New Yorker chose it as one of its 24 “Essential Reads” of 2022.