| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.5

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the AHR online. About 249 words from this article are provided below; about 508 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the American Historical Association, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time. AHA members can go to the AHA individual membership section to locate their member numbers.
If you are not a member of the American Historical Association, you can:: • Join the AHA and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the American Historical Review.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the American Historical Review (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the American Historical Review.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 107.5 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Canada and the United States

Athan Theoharis. Chasing Spies: How the FBI Failed in Counterintelligence but Promoted the Politics of McCarthyism in the Cold War Years. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. 2002. Pp. vii, 307. $27.50.

Athan Theoharis has a formidable grasp of the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and especially of its numerous transgressions; he is one of the foremost scholarly guardians of American civil liberties. His new book is just as unforgiving as his previous publications of the bureau's excesses, but it offers an additional message. Even though conceived and written before terrorism rose to the top of the national agenda in September 2001, it addresses the burning issue of America's competence in counterespionage in a way that is relevant to the current debate. 1

In a familiar vein, Theoharis details the way in which the FBI has given in to neurotic obsessions, leading it to harrass gays, blacks, and suspected communists in the United States. But he has something new to add to this familiar refrain. He asserts that because the bureau was thus preoccupied, it proved incompetent at one of its most important tasks, counterespionage. Instead of pursuing communist agents who were, the author agrees, a serious menace to the United States, the FBI engaged in silly schemes against softer targets, such as those responsible for making the film For Whom the Bell Tolls, which was dubbed "Communist propaganda" by the bureau's Los Angeles office in 1943. . . .

There are about 508 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.