Protecting the President: The Inside Story of a Secret Service Agent

McCarthy is the Secret Service agent who wrestled John Hinckley to the ground after the would-be assassin shot President Reagan, and that incident is the centerpiece of this book. But there is much more: a short history of the agency, whose primary task is not protecting presidents, but apprehending counterfeiters; and a discussion of the training agents undergo, which requires them to suppress the instinct for self-preservation. We're also given portraits of the five presidents McCarthy has guarded, from the autocratic and abrasive LBJ to the pleasant Nixon, friendly Ford, distant, uncommunicative Carter, and the amiable Reagan. Photos not seen by PW. November 20