Gossip Men: J. Edgar Hoover, Joe McCarthy, Roy Cohn, and the Politics of Insinuation

A “finely crafted” study of J. Edgar Hoover, George McCarthy, Roy Cohn and the use of gossip in 1950s US politics (Library Journal, starred review).

“A juicy introduction to three of the most controversial figures in twentieth-century American politics. . . . Well-researched and stimulating.” —Publishers Weekly

In Gossip Men, Christopher M. Elias takes a probing look at three towering and tarnished twentieth-century figures to reveal a host of startling connections among gender, sexuality, and national security in modern American politics. Elias illustrates how Hoover, McCarthy, and Cohn solidified their power through the skillful use of deliberately misleading techniques like implication, hyperbole, and photographic manipulation. Just as provocatively, he shows that the American people of the 1950s were particularly primed to accept these coded messages because they were already familiar with such tactics from widely popular gossip magazines. By using gossip as a lens to examine profound issues of state security and institutional power, Elias thoroughly transforms our understanding of the development of contemporary American political culture.

“A perspective, well-informed political and cultural history. Elias makes a stimulating book debut with interwoven biographies of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, Wisconsin Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and lawyer Roy Cohn.” —Kirkus Reviews

“Gossip Men manages the neat trick of portraying three monsters in ways that induce as much pity as fury.” —Air Mail

“A masterful interpretation of the politics of the early Cold War.” —Commonweal

“Informative, entertaining. . . . An important, novel history text.” —Foreword Reviews

© 2024 The University of Chicago Press (Ebook): 9780226751528

Release date

Ebook: 31 May 2024