J. Edgar Hoover, the most powerful lawman in America for over fifty years, was also the country's most controversial and corrupt public servant. His career spanned nine different presidential administrations, and he survived a dozen attempts to sweep him from his post as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Hoover reshaped domestic law enforcement as he expanded the reach of the FBI and transformed his G-men into an elite national crime fighting division. While many of Hoover's achievements and insecurities are well documented, author Richard Hack reveals for the first time the most hidden secrets of Hoover's private life and exposes previously undisclosed conduct that threatened to compromise the security of the entire nation. Based on recently uncovered files and personal documents as well as over 100,000 pages of FBI memos and State Department papers, Puppetmasters, The Secret Life of J. Edgar Hoover rips the lid off the director's facade of propriety to detail a life replete with sexual indiscretions, criminal behavior and a long-standing alliance with the Mafia.