About the Book
An FBI's informant's role in the murder of a civil rights activist by the KKK is explored in this "suspenseful and vigorously reported" history (Baltimore Sun).
In 1965, Detroit housewife Viola Liuzzo drove to Alabama to help organize Martin Luther King's Voting Rights March from Selma, Alabama, to Montgomery. But after the march's historic success, Liuzzo was shot to death by members of the Birmingham Ku Klux Klan. The case drew national attention and was solved almost instantly, because one of the Klansman present during the shooting was Gary Thomas Rowe, an undercover FBI informant.
At the time, Rowe's information and testimony were heralded as a triumph of law enforcement. But as Gary May reveals in this provocative book, Rowe's history of collaboration with both the Klan and the FBI was far more complex. Based on previously unexamined FBI and Justice Department Records, The Informant demonstrates that in their ongoing efforts to protect Rowe's cover, the FBI knowingly became an accessory to some of the most grotesque crimes of the Civil Rights era--including a vicious attack on the Freedom Riders and perhaps even the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church.
A tale of a renegade informant and a tragically dysfunctional intelligence system, The Informant offers a dramatic cautionary tale about what can happen when secret police power goes unchecked.
About the Author :
Gary May is professor of history and director of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies Program, University of Delaware. His previous books include China Scapegoat: The Diplomatic Ordeal of John Carter Vincent and Un-American Activities: The Trials of William Remington.
Review :
"The Informant is an important book. As a wonderful storyteller and historian, Gary May uses a dramatic 1965 Civil Rights murder to tell the fascinating account of an FBI informant system that had careened out of control. Breaking new ground with his prodigious research, May takes readers back to the 1960s, inside the violent world of the Ku Klux Klan and the strife that was splitting America. May vividly demonstrates the danger of fighting today's terrorists by relying on violent informants operating in a criminal netherworld with no fear of arrest. The Informant is a riveting and cautionary tale for modern times."-Gerald Posner, author of "Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11"""
"" "The Informant "is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner."2;Richard Gid Powers, author of "Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI"
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-- Richard Gid Powers
""The Informant" is an important book. As a wonderful storyteller and historian, Gary May uses a dramatic 1965 Civil Rights murder to tell the fascinating account of an FBI informant system that had careened out of control. Breaking new ground with his prodigious research, May takes readers back to the 1960s, inside the violent world of the Ku Klux Klan and the strife that was splitting America. May vividly demonstrates the danger of fighting today7;s terrorists by relying on violent informants operating in a criminal netherworld with no fear of arrest. "The Informant "is" "a riveting and cautionary tale for modern times."2;Gerald Posner, author of "Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11"
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-- Gerald Posner
"Gary May7;s page-turner is a demonstration that truth can be stranger than fiction. His book is a cautionary tale about secret government in general and the misuse of secret agents in particular. Part biography, part history, May7;s book is a window on personalities and events essential to our understanding of the civil rights era of the 1960s."2; Robert Dallek
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-- Robert Dallek
0;Gary May7;s page-turner is a demonstration that truth can be stranger than fiction. His book is a cautionary tale about secret government in general and the misuse of secret agents in particular. Part biography, part history, May7;s book is a window on personalities and events essential to our understanding of the Civil Rights era of the 1960s.1;2;Robert Dallek
0;The Informant is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner.1;2;Richard Gid Powers, author of" Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI"
"Gary May's page-turner is a demonstration that truth can be stranger than fiction. His book is a cautionary tale about secret government in general and the misuse of secret agents in particular. Part biography, part history, May's book is a window on personalities and events essential to our understanding of the civil rights era of the 1960s."-- Robert Dallek
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"""The Informant "is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner."--Richard Gid Powers, author of "Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI"
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"
" Gary May's page-turner is a demonstration that truth can be stranger than fiction. His book is a cautionary tale about secret government in general and the misuse of secret agents in particular. Part biography, part history, May's book is a window on personalities and events essential to our understanding of the Civil Rights era of the 1960s." -- Robert Dallek
" The Informant is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner." -- Richard Gid Powers, author of" Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI"
""The Informant is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner."-Richard Gid Powers, author of "Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI""
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"The Informant is a gripping and suspenseful account of an enormously important event in American history. Based on unprecedented access to internal FBI documents, it offers fresh revelations about the Ku Klux Klan, the FBI, and the Civil Rights movement. This is a great book and, incidentally, a real page-turner."--Richard Gid Powers, author of" Broken: The Troubled Past and Uncertain Future of the FBI"
