Reviews for The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency - Philip H. Melanson

The average rating for The Secret Service: The Hidden History of an Enigmatic Agency - Philip H. Melanson based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-07-11 00:00:00 Frederick Hutchinson This book is a brief and cursory review of the history of the Secret Service (330+ pages simply cannot do this agency justice), but that's not what I'm choosing to focus on with this review. Instead, I'd like to comment on the absolutely terrible writing and editing of this book. I found it nearly impossible to read at times, due to overly complex grammatical choices by the author, absolutely terrible editing, and even some sections where the same sentences and paragraphs have been cut and pasted into multiple pages. The author overuses quotes, referencing them multiple times in completely different chapters, relating them to entirely different topics. The last chapter is a commentary and set of recommendations for the Service which (in my opinion) has no place in a historical re-telling of the Service's history. Who appointed the author to the head of the Secret Service restructuring committee? Although you may (like me) be interested in learning more about the Secret Service, please, do yourself a favor and skip this book. There are far better texts on the topic, and frankly, this one is a waste of your time and money. It certainly was mine.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-29 00:00:00 Shelby Wyatt The typos, my God, the typos! One of the worst edited books I've ever picked up. And while I learned a lot, I didn't appreciate the snarky attitude the author seemed to take toward the Secret Service. Hard to imagine me not liking snarky, I know, but it seemed very disrespectful of a group of men who put themselves in front of bullets for the President and his family.