The Last Honest Man

The CIA, the FBI, the Mafia, and the Kennedys—and One Senator's Fight to Save Democracy

De: James Risen, Thomas Risen

Narrado por: Kevin Stillwell

In this instant New York Times bestseller, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines Senator Frank Church, the man at the center of numerous investigations into the abuses of power within the American government. ​

“Gripping ... spectacular piece of reporting.” —Ken Burns​

For decades now, America’s national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and ever more abusive. Only once did someone manage to put a stop to any of it.

Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the Vietnam War and had become a scathing, radical critic of what he saw as American imperialism around the world. But he was still politically ambitious, privately yearning for acceptance from the foreign policy establishment that he hated and eager to run for president. Despite his flaws, Church would show historic strength in his greatest moment, when in the wake of Watergate he was suddenly tasked with investigating abuses of power in the intelligence community. The dark truths that Church exposed—from assassination plots by the CIA, to links between the Kennedy dynasty and the mafia, to the surveillance of civil rights activists by the NSA and FBI—would shake the nation to its core, and forever change the way that Americans thought about not only their government but also their ability to hold it accountable.

Drawing upon hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and reams of unpublished letters, notes, and memoirs, some of which remain sensitive today, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter James Risen tells the gripping, untold story of truth and integrity standing against unchecked power—and winning—in The Last Honest Man.

Longlisted for the PEN/Jacqueline Bograd Weld Award for Biography

“Timely and long overdue ... This book should be required reading.” ―Tom O’Neill, author of Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

Reseñas de la Crítica

“Vigorous… a welcome restoration of a largely forgotten politician who navigated issues that continue to reverberate.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Church was that rarity among elected representatives: an ideologue fully prepared to sacrifice his career to a great cause… [The Last Honest Man] pairs the gripping pace of an espionage thriller with the intense research of a comprehensive and timely account of government oversight.”—Booklist (starred review)

“James Risen is one of our country’s greatest investigative reporters, and Frank Church, the senator at the heart of this book, is an American icon—a man of supreme confidence, integrity, and wisdom. The dark truths he exposed about America’s spy agencies are shocking even by today’s standards. A gripping book, The Last Honest Man is a spectacular piece of reporting that reads like a spy novel with the eloquence of great history.”—Ken Burns

“The Last Honest Man is a vitally important, timely story about how our elected politicians—few of them perfect—can protect us from tyranny by insisting that presidents, spies, and generals follow the law. It is also a ripping good read: a Washington thriller that reliably sorts fact from myth about the Mafia, JFK, and the CIA, while re-investigating improbable episodes of a tumultuous era.”—Steve Coll, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 and Directorate S: The C.I.A. and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan

“James Risen's engrossing book is more than a biography of a hugely significant senator, more than the resurrection of one of the most influential congressional committees of the 20th century, and more than a colorful tour of the CIA's assassination plots, mafia ties and outrageous mind control experiments. It's a vivid reminder that American democracy is always fragile.”—Jonathan Alter, New York Times bestselling author of The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope and His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life

“This new biography of one of the Senate's most principled and effectual bulwarks against America's warfare state, by one of America's greatest investigative reporters, couldn't be more engrossing. And as we finally come up for air after a generation of disastrous war, it couldn't be more important.”—Rick Perlstein, New York Times bestselling author of Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America, The Invisible Bridge: The Fall of Nixon and the Rise of Reagan, and Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976–1980

Informative without preachiness! And a darn good read

I lived in Idaho for many years. I have wondered why it is such a republican holding, this book answers my questions. I have been down the river of no return in a raft and I am forever thankful for Senator Frank Church for his devotion to conservation of the environment.

Great Info - Good Book

Lots of good historical info contained in this. The only thing I can say negatively is that clearly the author is blinded by his disdain for Trump (when the author completely dismissed the possibility that the “Deep State” exists).

Fascinating History

Although I was familiar with many of the basic facts on the CIA plots uncovered by the Church investigations, the details about how these were conceived and carried out gave me a clearer perspective and fresh understanding. The book develops as two parallel plots: senator Church’s life, and the truths he uncovered about government agencies such as CIA, FBI and NSA. Definitely worth the time invested.

Trolling a timeline for truths

Having lived through this timeline, the compression of detail and fact in Risens telling impoverishes memory and strings together a comprehension of the nature of forces baffling the souls of our country. Chaos, overlaid layers of distilled chaos, leave us wondering where we find Church in our midst. So deeply researched and told, worth every minute.

Excellent

Classic James Risen. Highly recommend. Important recent history/political context. Really shows how remarkable it is that anything gets done in Congress