by James Risen
First published 2023
Senator Frank Church of Idaho finds himself in an impossible position in 1975. Witnesses turn up dead under mysterious circumstances. The entire intelligence apparatus of the United States has declared war on oversight. Church stands nearly alone against the FBI, NSA, CIA, and IRS as they resist investigation into decades of unchecked power. The senator carries his own contradictions. He has spent years attacking American foreign policy and opposing the Vietnam War, yet he still craves acceptance from the establishment he criticizes. He dreams of the presidency while exposing the very system he hopes to lead. In the aftermath of Watergate, Church receives an unexpected assignment to investigate intelligence community abuses. What he uncovers will震 the nation. CIA assassination plots surface. Connections between the Kennedy family and organized crime emerge. Surveillance operations targeting civil rights leaders come to light. Each revelation forces Americans to confront uncomfortable truths about their government and their own capacity to demand accountability. Pulitzer Prize winner James Risen draws from hundreds of interviews, newly declassified documents, and private papers to tell this story of one man's integrity confronting institutional power.
Genres: historical-fiction, 20th-century, crime, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, whistleblower
Setting: Idaho, United States
Period: 1975
480 pages · Hardcover · Little, Brown and Company