The Director. In the Hoover book, Demaris has some disparaging
remarks about the Church Committee: it was politically motivated,
inspired by "rehashes of old charges," and was "flogging a dead
horse." Demaris was also unhappy with the many books on Watergate
and the fall of Richard Nixon. He characterizes them with the
following: "While some of their tall tales may be true, they are
not unaware that truth that is stranger than fiction will sell
better in a market already jaded by exotic overexposure."

Demaris' book on Hoover can only be called sympathetic. This is
immediately indicated by his choice of interviewees. They include
high level FBI administrators like Robert E. Wick, John P. Mohr,
and Mark Felt; former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst;
Hoover publicity flack Louis Nichols who named one of his sons
after his boss; and actor Efrem Zimbalist who starred in ABC's
glamorized series on the Bureau. In the entire book, there are
eight pages on Hoover's infamous COINTELPRO operations, i.e. the
infiltration, disruption, and occasional destruction of domestic
political movements.

In Hoover's disputes with the Kennedys, there can be no doubt
where Demaris stands. Speaking of Hoover's r