Crooked The Roaring '20s Tale of a Corrupt Attorney General, a Crusading Senator, and the Birth of the American Political Scandal

The fascinating, page-turning, forgotten narrative of the most corrupt attorney general in American history and the maverick senator who fought to take him down

The Jazz Age is famous for scandal and corruption. But perhaps its greatest political fiasco—one that set the nation ablaze from coast-to-coast, reshaped the department of justice, delivered the rise of J. Edgar Hoover, and inspired the Oscar-winning “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”—has been lost in the annals of history. In Crooked, Nathan Masters restores this story of murders, con artist, secret lovers, spies, bootleggers, corrupt politicians to its incredible, page-turning glory.

Newly elected to the senate on a promise to root out corruption, Burton "Boxcar Burt" Wheeler sets his sights on Harry Daugherty, Warren G. Harding's attorney general and puppet-master behind the nascent FBI. Daugherty was famously corrupt, having long serve as Harding's political fixer, doing whatever it took to keep his boss in power, including taking kickbacks from bootleggers and bribes for drilling rights. And he had only recently been under an uncomfortable spotlight when his constant companion and trusted fixer, Jess Smith, was found dead of a gunshot wound in the apartment the two men shared, and the rot consuming the Harding administration was finally exposed to a shocked public. When the Senate authorizes Wheeler to conduct an official investigation, he promises the truth and delivers a public spectacle. He subpoenas a rogue’s gallery of witnesses—ex-cons, bootleggers, disgraced government officials—who can testify to the attorney general’s treachery, and he vows to solve the riddle of Jess Smith’s suspicious death. With the Montana senator hot on his trail, Daugherty turns to his greatest weapon, the Bureau of Investigation (soon to be called the FBI)—it’s the perfect moment for a young lawyer named J. Edgar Hoover waiting in the wings to seize power.

Fast-paced and as un-put-down-able as any Erik Larson or David Grann book, Nathan Masters delivers a thrilling historical narrative in Wheeler and Daugherty's cat-and-mouse game. Time has almost entirely forgotten this epic feud between two larger-than-life personalities, but it has never felt more relevant: nationwide scandal, domestic spying, politically motivated FBI investigations, and a corrupt attorney general hellbent on protecting his president, no matter how many laws he has to bend or break.