From the moment of Albert Einstein's arrival in the United States in l933, the year of the Nazis' ascent to power in Germany, until his death in l955, J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, assisted by several other federal agencies, began feverishly collecting ""derogatory information"" in an effort to undermine the renowned physicist's influence and destroy his reputation. Using material newly obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Fred Jerome tells the story in depth of that anti-Einstein campaign, why and how the campaign originated, and provides the first detailed picture of Einstein's little-known political activism. The Einstein File not only reveals a little-known aspect of Einstein's considerable social and humanitarian concerns, but underscores the dangers that can arise to the American republic and the rule of law in times of obsession with national security.

""A highly readable book---investigative journalism that qualifies as academic history. It is also scary.""
---Harper's Magazine

""The Einstein File is a frightening look at a dark past, hopefully gone forever. It also reestablishes Einstein as a committed social activist, antiracist, antiwar critic of capitalism, whose daring extended beyond mathematics.""
---Julian Bond, NAACP Chairman

""Meticulously researched and beautifully written, The Einstein File details a bleak chapter in this nation's history, when a rogue elephant FBI rode roughshod over civil liberties, including the rights and privacy of one of the world's great scientists. As the ""war on terrorism"" begins to resemble the ""war on communism,"" Fred Jerome's highly informative book sounds a profoundly cautionary note.""
---Gerald Horne, author of Race Woman: The Lives of Shirley Graham Du Bois

""A well-written, provocative book that could---and should---alter the ways Hoover and Einstein are viewed.""
---Denver Post

""Vivid and engrossing.... Everybody interested in American history should read it.""
---Frederic Golden, former science editor of Time