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Summary
Summary
Presents an examination of the author's long and complex relationship with the FBI official responsible for providing him with the details of the Watergate break-in, which ultimately resulted in the resignation of President Nixon.
Author Notes
Bob Woodward is the author or co-author of seven #1 national bestsellers, including "All the President's Men," "The Brethren," & "The Agenda." He is Assistant Managing Editor of "The Washington Post" & lives in Washington, D.C.
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Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Now that the Watergate scandal source, Deep Throat, has decided to step forward (or at least Mark Felt's family has), this audiobook serves as the final chapter of the saga Woodward and Carl Bernstein began with All the President's Men. Boyd Gaines has a tough job as reader. Retelling a tale that was so memorably and, as it turns out, accurately portrayed by Robert Redford and Hal Holbrook on film is a daunting task. But Gaines rises to the occasion with aplomb. His rendition of Woodward is authoritative yet humble and delivered with a confident crispness. His take on Felt's voice is also strong, and it is interesting to hear Felt's digression into the less complimentary mannerisms of old age. Gaines's version of the older, forgetful Felt sounds a bit like his Richard Nixon, with a pinch of John Wayne thrown in the mix. Overall, The Secret Man is a historically informative and enjoyable listening experience that also speaks to the current issue of journalism and the protection of sources. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
Most of Woodward's books follow a predictable formula: the fly-on-the-wall perspective, the sleight-of-hand sourcing, the omniscient narrative style. Perhaps that's why this unraveling of the Deep Throat mystery seems so out of character. True, Woodward had to publish in a hurry. When Mark Felt, the FBI's number-two man during the Watergate era, disclosed in Vanity Fair0 that he was Deep Throat, the rug was effectively pulled from under the book Woodward had been planning to write. So it's no surprise that this nearly instant book has a rushed feeling to it; what is surprising is that, unlike Woodward's typical productions, this one comes across as honest, personal, and slightly off balance, seemingly mirroring the author's own ambivalent feelings about his relationship with Felt. Usually Woodward is an unseen presence in his narratives, but this time he's in the middle of everything, explaining how the relationship between himself, at the time a young Washington Post 0 reporter, and Felt evolved to the point that, when Watergate broke open, he felt comfortable about calling Felt directly. Felt's role, we learn, was more to confirm, deny, or steer in the right direction rather than leak, but the FBI man had his own agenda, stemming from being passed over for J. Edgar Hoover's job. He also had his own ambivalence about what he was doing. Equally interesting here is the chance to reprise the various journalistic decisions Woodward has made over the years--particularly relevant, in today's world, is the whole topic of protecting sources. A must for anyone who watched Watergate unfold, but there's plenty here of interest even for those who don't know their Jeb Magruders from their Charles Colsons. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2005 Booklist
Library Journal Review
One of the greatest and longest held secrets in American political history is told here in this thoughtful and compelling tale. Washington Post veteran reporter Woodward (coauthor with Carl Bernstein, All the President's Men) finally reveals the story behind his confidential source for the -Watergate scandal, "Deep Throat." The FBI's second in command-W. Mark Felt-was ultimately revealed to be Woodward's source. This very unlikely leak was critical in guiding the reporters to stories that helped bring down the White House of President Richard M. Nixon. While this book is the story of Felt, it also is a glance into the early journalistic career of the author-warts, mistakes, and all. By starting with the chance meeting of Woodward and Felt and slowly taking the listener through their often tumultuous relationship, this book concludes in summer 2005, when Deep Throat's true identity was released to the world. Boyd Gaines's narration is gripping; recommended for all public and academic libraries.-Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Chapter 1 In february 1992, as the 20th anniversary of the Watergate break-in approached, I went to the fortress-like J. Edgar Hoover FBI headquarters building on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. An imposing cement structure with large dark windows, the Hoover building sits appropriately about midway between the White House and the Capitol. It is as if Hoover, the founding director and the embodiment of the FBI from 1924 to 1972, is still present in Washington, D.C., playing off presidents against the Congress. I navigated the labyrinth of security and finally made my way to the documents room. I had come to examine some of the FBI's investigative Watergate files that had been opened to the public. Private cubicles are available in the classy, law-firm atmosphere, well lit, all done in high-quality wood paneling well above the standard government issue. The room is quiet. I was offered blue-lined paper to take notes. The Watergate files contain hundreds of internal FBI memos, requests for action, investigative summaries, and Teletypes to headquarters from field offices which had conducted hundreds of interviews. There were the first summaries of information on the five burglars arrested in the Democrats' Watergate office building headquarters: their names, their backgrounds, their CIA connections, and their contacts with E. Howard Hunt Jr., the former CIA operative and White House consultant, and G. Gordon Liddy, the former FBI agent. The files teemed with notes, routing slips and queries bearing initials from senior Bureau officials, dates and intelligence classifications. The outline of the Watergate cover-up was so clear in retrospect. White House counsel John W. Dean III, who later confessed to leading the illegal obstruction of justice on behalf of President Richard Nixon, "stated all requests for investigation by FBI at White House must be cleared through him," according to a summary dated six days after the June 17, 1972, break-in. A memo on October 10, 1972, addressed The Washington Post story that Carl Bernstein and I had written that day. It was probably our most important story; it reported that the Watergate break-in was not an isolated event but "stemmed from a massive campaign of political spying and sabotage" run by the White House and President Nixon's reelection committee. The two-page memo stated that the FBI had learned that Donald H. Segretti, who headed the efforts to harass Democratic presidential candidates, had been hired by Dwight L. Chapin, the president's appointments secretary, and paid by Herbert W. Kalmbach, the president's personal lawyer. Because there was no direct connection to the Watergate bugging, the memo said, the FBI had not pursued the matter. I smiled. Here were two of the reasons the Watergate cover-up had worked at first: Dean's effectiveness in squelching further inquiry; and the seeming utter lack of imagination on the part of the FBI. All of this was a pleasant, long, well-documented reminder of names, events and emotions as I sifted through the Bureau memos, as best I could tell almost a complete set of internal memos and investigative files. The files and memos provided a kind of intimacy with what had been four intense years of my life, as Carl Bernstein and I covered the story for The Washington Post and wrote two books about Watergate: All the President's Men, published in 1974, which was about our newspaper's investigation; and The Final Days, published in 1976, which chronicled the collapse of the Nixon presidency. At the time of my visit I was 48 years old, but I was not there for a trip down memory lane. I was not hunting for more information in the rich history of Watergate; not looking for new avenues, leads, surprises, contradictions, unrevealed crimes or hidden meaning, although the amazements of Watergate rarely ceased. Instead, I was really there in further pursuit of Deep Throat... Copyright © 2005 by Bob Woodward Excerpted from The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat by Bob Woodward All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
