The Secrets of the FBI

New York, NY: Crown Publishers), 2011. First edition. First edition [stated]. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Good in very good dust jacket. Minor evidence that some edges of pages got damp at some point.. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. [8], 296 p. Illustrations, black & white, Illustrations, color. From Wikipedia: "Ronald Borek Kessler is an American journalist and author of 19 non-fiction books about the U.S. Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. Kessler was born in New York City in 1943. He grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts, and attended Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1962 to 1964, before embarking on a career in journalism. He is married and has two children. Kessler began his career in 1964 as a reporter with the Worcester Telegram, followed by three years as an investigative reporter and editorial writer with the Boston Herald. A series he wrote while there was instrumental in the installation of a better plaque commemorating the location of Boston's Pre-Revolutionary-War Liberty Tree. In 1968, he joined the Wall Street Journal as a reporter in the New York bureau. During these years, his reporting won awards from the American Political Science Association (public affairs reporting award, 1965), United Press International (1967) and the Associated Press (Sevellon Brown Memorial award, 1967). In 1970 Kessler joined the Washington Post as an investigative reporter and continued as a staff writer until 1985. In 1972, he won a George Polk Memorial award for Community Service because of two series of articles he wrote one on conflicts of interest and mismanagement at Washington area non-profit hospitals, and a second series exposing kickbacks among lawyers, title insurance companies, realtors, and lenders in connection with real estate settlements, inflating the cost of buying homes. He was also named a Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian magazine that year. In 1979, Kessler won a second Polk Award, this one for National Reporting for a series of articles exposing corruption in the General Services Administration; he won even though his editor, Ben Bradlee, had not submitted his stories for consideration. Kessler's Washington Post stories reporting that Lena Ferguson had been denied membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) because she is black led to her acceptance by the DAR and widespread changes in its policies to increase membership by blacks. Since leaving the Washington Post, Kessler has authored 19 nonfiction books on intelligence and current affairs. Six of his books reached the hardcover nonfiction New York Times Best Seller list: The Secrets of the FBI (2011), In the President's Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect (2009), described by USA Today as "the inside scoop on those stern-faced guys who protect the president, " Laura Bush (2006), a biography of the first lady; A Matter of Character (2004), an admiring look at George W. Bush's presidency; The Season: Inside Palm Beach and America's Richest Society (1999), an investigative report on the lives of multi-billionaires in Palm Beach, Florida; and Inside the White House (1995), a behind-the-scenes expose of presidencies from Lyndon B. Johnson to Bill Clinton.." Kessler s book, The FBI: Inside the World s Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency, led to the dismissal of William S. Sessions as FBI director over his abuses. In his book The Bureau: The Secret History of the FBI, Kessler presented the first credible evidence that Bob Woodward s and Carl Bernstein s Watergate source dubbed Deep Throat was FBI official W. Mark Felt. The book said that Woodward paid a secret visit to Felt in California and had his limousine park ten blocks away from Felt s home so as not to attract attention. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show said Kessler's The Terrorist Watch: Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack is a "very interesting look inside the FBI and CIA, which I think is unprecedented." The Washington Times said of the book, "Ronald Kessler is a veteran Washington-based investigative journalist on national security. His unparalleled access to top players in America's counterterrorism campaign allowed him a rare glimpse into their tradecraft, making The Terrorist Watch.