William J. Maxwell

Everyone’s a critic

F.B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature by William J. Maxwell (Princeton University Press, $29.95)

Apparently, J. Edgar Hoover and his minions were obsessed with African American writers like James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Lorraine Hansberry and Richard Wright. Who knew the G-men had such excellent taste in literature?

But William J. Maxwell’s F. B. Eyes: How J. Edgar Hoover’s Ghostreaders Framed African American Literature illustrates—with ample documentation—how very comprehensive FBI interest in the work of African American writers was, including close readings worthy of graduate degrees among the agents assigned. But the long game involved creating simulacra of black literature to undermine the power of the literary legacy American blacks had produced, as well as influencing and directing the reception of African American literature among white readers.

What’s more, this comprehensive volume also addresses the ongoing program of harassment aimed at the black press, as well as energy exerted to prevent the publication of some works.

Anyone who (still, after Tuskegee) wonders why African Americans are so skeptical of the government need only read this to understand the lengths to which some elements would go to diminish the stature of black accomplishment.

This is a fascinating piece of history, dense and scholarly, but with powerful contemporary ramifications: How do we know that they’ve stopped?

Reviewed on Lit/Rant: www.litrant.tumblr.com… (meer)