Winner of a 2016 American Book Award, F.B. Eyes has been praised as “a bold, provocative study” (Publisher’s Weekly) of African-American literature. William Maxwell, professor in the English and African and African-American studies departments, draws on 14,000 pages of recently released FBI files to show how the FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, monitored and shaped public perception of African-American literature from 1919 to 1972. F.B. Eyes was also shortlisted for the 2016 MSA Book Prize by the Modernist Studies Association. “F.B. Eyes is a startling look at how racism has influenced the highest levels of authority,” says John T. Slania of Book Page.