The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist

Fred Jerome

ISBN 10: 0312288565 / ISBN 13: 9780312288563

Published by Saint Martin's Press, New York, 2002

About this Item

Stated First Edition, First Printing Hardcover copy with dust jacket. DJ has very minimal shelf wear. Book itself is in excellent condition, interior pages are bright and unmarked, binding is tight. Images are included, feel free to ask for more!

Seller Inventory # 516

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Einstein File: J. Edgar Hoover's Secret War Against the World's Most Famous Scientist
• Publisher: Saint Martin's Press, New York
• Publication Date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0312288565
• ISBN 13: 9780312288563
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

From the moment of Einstein's arrival in the U.S. in l933 until his death in l955, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, with help from several other federal agencies, busied itself collecting "derogatory information" in an effort to undermine Einstein's influence and destroy his prestige. For the first time Fred Jerome tells the story of that anti-Einstein campaign, as well as the story behind it--why and how the campaign originated, and thereby provides the first detailed picture of Einstein's little known political activism.

Unlike the popular image of Einstein as an absent-minded, head-in-the-clouds genius, the man was in fact intensely politically active and felt it was his duty to use his world-wide fame shrewdly in the cause of social justice. A passionate pacifist, socialist, internationalist and outspoken critic of racism (Einstein considered racism America's "worst disease"), and personal friend of Paul Robeson and W.E.B. DuBois, Einstein used his immense prestige to denounce McCarthy at the height of his power, publicly urging witnesses to refuse to testify before HUAC.

The story that emerges not only reveals a little known aspect of Einstein's character, but underscores the dangers that can arise, to threaten the American Republic and the rule of law, in times of obsession with national security.

About the Author

Fred Jerome is a senior consultant to the Gene Media Forum, Newhouse School of Communications, Syracuse University. His articles and op-ed pieces have appeared in many publications, including Newsweek and The New York Times. As a reporter in the South during the early 1960s, he covered the exploding civil rights movement, and, more recently, has taught journalism at Columbia, New York University, and other New York-area universities. He established the Media Resource Center, a widely acclaimed telephone referral service putting thousands of journalists in touch with scientists.