In late 1970, a mild-mannered Haverford College physics professor privately asked a few people this question: "What do you think of burglarizing an FBI office?" In remarkable detail and with astonishing depth of research, Betty Medsger reveals the never-before-told full story of the history-changing break-in at the Media, Pennsylvania, FBI offices. Through their exploits, a group of unlikely activists exposed the shocking truth that J. Edgar Hoover was operating a shadow Bureau engaged in illegal surveillance and harassment of the American people.

The Burglary brings the activists, who have kept their secret for forty-three years, into the public eye for the first time--including, new to this edition, the recent discovery of the eighth and final member of the team. The burglars' story of personal sacrifice and civil disobedience is a vital episode in the American whistle-blower tradition that includes the Pentagon Papers, Watergate's Deep Throat, and, most recently, Edward Snowden and the NSA.