The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America’s War on Drugs

By Douglas Valentine

Voted Outstanding Academic Title in 2004 by Choice.
The Strength of the Wolf is the first complete history of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), which existed from 1930 until its wrenching termination in 1968. The most successful federal law enforcement agency ever, the FBN was populated by some of the most amazing characters in American history, many of whom the author interviewed for this book. Working as undercover agents and with mercenary informers around the globe, these freewheeling "case making" agents penetrated the Mafia and the French connection, breaking all the rules in the process, and uncovering the Establishment's ties to organized crime. Targeted by the FBI and the CIA, the case-makers were, ironically, victims of their own fabulous success in hunting down society's predators. An incredible, never-before-told story, The Strength of the Wolf provides a new, exciting, and revealing look at an important chapter in American history.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Verso
• Release date: Sep 1, 2013
• ISBN: 9781781686232

Douglas Valentine

Douglas Valentine is the author of four books of historical nonfiction: The Hotel Tacloban, The Phoenix Program: America’s Use of Terror in Vietnam, The Strength of the Wolf: The Secret History of America’s War on Drugs, and The Strength of the Pack: The Personalities, Politics and Espionage Intrigues that Shaped the DEA. He is the author of the novel TDY, and a book of poems, A Crow’s Dream. He is also the editor of the poetry anthology With Our Eyes Wide Open: Poems of the New American Century. Valentine lives with his wife, Alice, in Massachusetts.  

Reviews for The Strength of the Wolf

[brucecoulson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fascinating, ultimately depressing book on the real War on Drugs. Dealing primarily with the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (FBN), a hopelessly underfunded, overworked division of law enforcement, Valentine carefully notes and documents the policies that led to the War on Drugs being subverted by the 'needs' of national security. And, ultimately, to the end of the FBN at the hands of bureaucratic rivals and national security interests.