The Secret Man

There's plenty of fascinating Deep Throat trivia in this audiobook--for example, at one point, Nixon sends a congratulatory bottle of champagne to ex-FBI agent Mark Felt, unaware that he is the man who brought down the presidency. But what keeps the listener riveted to this story is not the unmasking of an informer--it's the transformation of two men in a father-son-style relationship. Boyd Gaines's narration is particularly sensitive to this element, adding poignancy to Felt's deterioration and Woodward's reflections on his own aging. If ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN was a book about youth and the quest for truth, then Woodward's new book is, as he bills it, the antithesis--a story about aging and the quest for meaning. R.W.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine

July 4, 2005
Rushed into print after former FBI second-in-command W. Mark Felt was unmasked as Watergate's enigmatic arch-informant, this memoir reminds us that the scandal's lasting impact was less on politics than on journalism. Woodward recounts his cultivation of the avuncular Felt as mentor and source during his days as a cub reporter, the cloak-and-dagger parking garage meetings where Felt leaked conclusions from the FBI's Watergate investigation, Felt's ambivalence about his actions and the chilling of their post-Watergate relationship. The narrative drags in later years as the author showily wrestles with the ethics of revealing his source, even after a senile Felt begins blurting out the secret and his family pesters Woodward to confirm his identity. Woodward portrays Felt as a conflicted man with situational principles (he was convicted of authorizing the FBI's own Watergate-style illegal break-ins), motivated possibly by his resentment of White House pressure on the FBI for a cover-up, possibly by pique at being passed over for FBI chief. Unfortunately, Felt doesn't remember Watergate, so his reasons remain a mystery; Woodward's disappointment at the drying up of his oracle is palpable. What's clear is that Deep Throat laid the template for Woodward's career; his later reporting on cloistered institutions-the Supreme Court, the CIA, the Fed, various administrations-relied on highly-place, often unnamed insiders to unveil their secrets. It gave his reporting its omniscient tone, but, critics complain, drained it of perspective and made it a captive of his sources and their agendas. Woodward doesn't probe these issues very deeply, but he does open a window on the fraught relationships at the heart of journalism.

September 5, 2005
Now that the Watergate scandal source, Deep Throat, has decided to step forward (or at least Mark Felt's family has), this audiobook serves as the final chapter of the saga Woodward and Carl Bernstein began with All the President's Men
. Boyd Gaines has a tough job as reader. Retelling a tale that was so memorably and, as it turns out, accurately portrayed by Robert Redford and Hal Holbrook on film is a daunting task. But Gaines rises to the occasion with aplomb. His rendition of Woodward is authoritative yet humble and delivered with a confident crispness. His take on Felt's voice is also strong, and it is interesting to hear Felt's digression into the less complimentary mannerisms of old age. Gaines's version of the older, forgetful Felt sounds a bit like his Richard Nixon, with a pinch of John Wayne thrown in the mix. Overall, The Secret Man
is a historically informative and enjoyable listening experience that also speaks to the current issue of journalism and the protection of sources. Simultaneous release with the S&S hardcover.