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Jon Wiener
Gimme Some Truth
The John Lennon FBI Files
$21.95, £12.95 paperback
978-0-520-22246-5
Available Now
344 pages, 6 x 9 inches, 174 b/w images
January 2000, Available worldwide
Categories: History; Politics; Sociology; Social Problems; Music
January 2000, Available worldwide
Categories: History; Politics; Sociology; Social Problems; Music
"What Gimme Some Truth adds to the record is both ponderous and appalling." —Los Angeles Times
"A scary and fascinating book: the anti-Lennon hysteria went as far up as J. Edgar Hoover and President Richard Nixon."—Chicago Tribune
"An extraordinary portrait of official paranoia." —Independent (UK)
"It's Wiener's recounting of his legal odyssey that is most illuminating." —Brill's Content
"One of the most important books ever published about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It wins bonus points for being delightful to read while being educational. Even for readers who never intend to use the FOIA, this book is a great supplement to Wiener's 1984 biography, 'Come Together: John Lennon and His Time.'" —Christian Science Monitor
"As a procedural history of a battle for the facts, Gimme Some Truth is as thorough and on-point regarding the Lennon case as one could hope for." –Billboard
"Wiener's annotations on declassified documents capture the FBI at its Monty Pythonesque bestÉGimme Some Truth's greatest value is as a document of an era when one man and his music had the power to change people's minds." –LA Weekly
"An astonishing new book." —Glasgow SundayHerald
"One of the most unusual volumes of Beatlesiana ever published." —Independent (UK)
"As pure courtroom drama, Wiener's account of the fight to get the files released is often fascinating. Given the history of government evasiveness and delaying tactics that Wiener has ably described here, the world may barely remember who either John Lennon or Richard Nixon was by the time they're made public in full."—Washington Post Book World
"Astonishing."—Sunday Tribune (Dublin)
"A scary and fascinating book."—Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
"An excellent account."—Portland Oregonian
"A scary and fascinating book: the anti-Lennon hysteria went as far up as J. Edgar Hoover and President Richard Nixon."—Chicago Tribune
"An extraordinary portrait of official paranoia." —Independent (UK)
"It's Wiener's recounting of his legal odyssey that is most illuminating." —Brill's Content
"One of the most important books ever published about the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). It wins bonus points for being delightful to read while being educational. Even for readers who never intend to use the FOIA, this book is a great supplement to Wiener's 1984 biography, 'Come Together: John Lennon and His Time.'" —Christian Science Monitor
"As a procedural history of a battle for the facts, Gimme Some Truth is as thorough and on-point regarding the Lennon case as one could hope for." –Billboard
"Wiener's annotations on declassified documents capture the FBI at its Monty Pythonesque bestÉGimme Some Truth's greatest value is as a document of an era when one man and his music had the power to change people's minds." –LA Weekly
"An astonishing new book." —Glasgow SundayHerald
"One of the most unusual volumes of Beatlesiana ever published." —Independent (UK)
"As pure courtroom drama, Wiener's account of the fight to get the files released is often fascinating. Given the history of government evasiveness and delaying tactics that Wiener has ably described here, the world may barely remember who either John Lennon or Richard Nixon was by the time they're made public in full."—Washington Post Book World
"Astonishing."—Sunday Tribune (Dublin)
"A scary and fascinating book."—Ft. Worth Star-Telegram
"An excellent account."—Portland Oregonian
"A strident and impermissable effort to second-guess the wisdom of the FBI. . . . A potpourri of conjecture, supposition, innuendo and surmise."—from the FBI's court documents
"Jon Wiener has put together a remarkable compilation of documents. I know of no keener annotations to any documents illustrating government surveillance. Wiener's commentary is as sprightly as the documents are foolish. He is thorough, appropriately droll at times, and rightly focused on the question of whether the FBI and the CIA were keeping to their lawful mandates during the years of abandon and evasion."—Todd Gitlin author of The Sixties
"The book sheds light on many issues far broader than John Lennon—the Nixon administration for example, and, not less importantly, the particular machinations of Clinton, Blair, and other current world leaders. Very few people know how the process of seeking and retrieving documents supposedly available under the Freedom of Information Act really works; Wiener's book makes this all very clear."—Eric Foner, Columbia University
"A classic case study. There is humor here and mystery, too. But most of all, there is hard evidence--in the FBI's own words--of what happens when government substitutes paranoia for law." —Floyd Abrams
"Jon Wiener has put together a remarkable compilation of documents. I know of no keener annotations to any documents illustrating government surveillance. Wiener's commentary is as sprightly as the documents are foolish. He is thorough, appropriately droll at times, and rightly focused on the question of whether the FBI and the CIA were keeping to their lawful mandates during the years of abandon and evasion."—Todd Gitlin author of The Sixties
"The book sheds light on many issues far broader than John Lennon—the Nixon administration for example, and, not less importantly, the particular machinations of Clinton, Blair, and other current world leaders. Very few people know how the process of seeking and retrieving documents supposedly available under the Freedom of Information Act really works; Wiener's book makes this all very clear."—Eric Foner, Columbia University
"A classic case study. There is humor here and mystery, too. But most of all, there is hard evidence--in the FBI's own words--of what happens when government substitutes paranoia for law." —Floyd Abrams
When FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover reported to the Nixon White House in 1972 about the Bureau's surveillance of John Lennon, he began by explaining that Lennon was a "former member of the Beatles singing group." When a copy of this letter arrived in response to Jon Wiener's 1981 Freedom of Information request, the entire text was withheld—along with almost 200 other pages—on the grounds that releasing it would endanger national security. This book tells the story of the author's remarkable fourteen-year court battle to win release of the Lennon files under the Freedom of Information Act in a case that went all the way to the Supreme Court. With the publication of Gimme Some Truth, 100 key pages of the Lennon FBI file are available—complete and unexpurgated, fully annotated and presented in a "before and after" format.
Lennon's file was compiled in 1972, when the war in Vietnam was at its peak, when Nixon was facing reelection, and when the "clever Beatle" was living in New York and joining up with the New Left and the anti-war movement. The Nixon administration's efforts to "neutralize" Lennon are the subject of Lennon's file. The documents are reproduced in facsimile so that readers can see all the classification stamps, marginal notes, blacked out passages and—in some cases—the initials of J. Edgar Hoover. The file includes lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges.
Fascinating, engrossing, at points hilarious and absurd, Gimme Some Truth documents an era when rock music seemed to have real political force and when youth culture challenged the status quo in Washington. It also delineates the ways the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations fought to preserve government secrecy, and highlights the legal strategies adopted by those who have challenged it.
Lennon's file was compiled in 1972, when the war in Vietnam was at its peak, when Nixon was facing reelection, and when the "clever Beatle" was living in New York and joining up with the New Left and the anti-war movement. The Nixon administration's efforts to "neutralize" Lennon are the subject of Lennon's file. The documents are reproduced in facsimile so that readers can see all the classification stamps, marginal notes, blacked out passages and—in some cases—the initials of J. Edgar Hoover. The file includes lengthy reports by confidential informants detailing the daily lives of anti-war activists, memos to the White House, transcripts of TV shows on which Lennon appeared, and a proposal that Lennon be arrested by local police on drug charges.
Fascinating, engrossing, at points hilarious and absurd, Gimme Some Truth documents an era when rock music seemed to have real political force and when youth culture challenged the status quo in Washington. It also delineates the ways the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations fought to preserve government secrecy, and highlights the legal strategies adopted by those who have challenged it.
Introduction
PART I. HISTORY
1. Getting Started
2. From District Court to the Supreme Court
3. Deposing the FBI and CIA
4. The Clinton Administration Takes Action
5. After the Settlement
Conclusion: The Culture of Secrecy
PART II. THE FILES
Guide to FBI File Pages
The Files
Notes
Glossary
Chronology
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Photographs
PART I. HISTORY
1. Getting Started
2. From District Court to the Supreme Court
3. Deposing the FBI and CIA
4. The Clinton Administration Takes Action
5. After the Settlement
Conclusion: The Culture of Secrecy
PART II. THE FILES
Guide to FBI File Pages
The Files
Notes
Glossary
Chronology
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
Photographs
Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies, by Jeremy Varon
There's Something Happening Here: The New Left, the Klan, and FBI Counterintelligence, by David Cunningham
The Whole World Is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left, With a New Preface , by Todd Gitlin
A Generation Divided: The New Left, the New Right, and the 1960s, by Rebecca E. Klatch
Secrets: The CIA's War at Home, by Angus Mackenzie
There's Something Happening Here: The New Left, the Klan, and FBI Counterintelligence, by David Cunningham
The Whole World Is Watching: Mass Media in the Making and Unmaking of the New Left, With a New Preface , by Todd Gitlin
A Generation Divided: The New Left, the New Right, and the 1960s, by Rebecca E. Klatch
Secrets: The CIA's War at Home, by Angus Mackenzie
Read about this book on the UC Press BlogAuthor's site on the book. Includes FBI documents, before and after the Supreme Court ruling.
Fresh Air interview with the author. One-hour talk with Terry Gross; available on RealAudio from the Fresh Air web site.
Fresh Air interview with the author. One-hour talk with Terry Gross; available on RealAudio from the Fresh Air web site.