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kmatthe2's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderfully infuriating book that documents the FBI's aggressive and illegal efforts to discredit and destroy various civil rights movements of the 1960s and 1970s. Meticulously documented (most often with photostats of FBI memos and letters), _The COINTELPRO Papers_ illustrates that our government is no stranger to illegal surveillance, assassination attempts, egregious misinformation, illegal leaks, and blackmail on DOMESTIC soil. (For instance, the FBI sent anonymous letters to MLK, Jr. saying that if he didn't kill himself, they would expose his alleged marital indiscretions to the public.) While Churchill's tone reveals his bias, the avalanche of documented evidence in support of his argument ameliorates any frustration one might have with his sometimes un-scholarly tone. What makes this book even more frightening are all of the parallels to the current administration's efforts to quell dissent in America. An important book.
patrickmcguire's review against another edition
4.0
This is the follow-up to Churchill and van der Wall's "Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret War on the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement". As such, it is mostly documents with enough narrative to tie it together. I would recommend "Agents.." over this, but there is more than enough in here to paint a pretty damning picture of political policing in the USA. Specifically, the authors argue that COINTELPRO type programs continued on through the 70's and beyond (even after the public revelations about COINTELPRO against the Panthers). Good stuff.
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