RED SCARE Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America

Kevin R. Free narrates this fact-filled, occasionally opinionated, history of the post-WWII period when the U.S. targeted communists, trade unionists, homosexuals, progressives, and Soviet sympathizers for removal from civic life. Prodded by influential men like FBI head J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joseph McCarthy, the government conducted intense surveillance. The House Un-American Activities Committee encouraged neighbors and colleagues to inform on each other and held hearings, often rife with overblown accusations and innuendo. Blacklists, book purges, and firings became commonplace. Free occasionally mimics the speech of well-known figures. Mostly, however, his conversational delivery is like that of a friend who is recounting a national crisis. The author doesn't draw comparisons with our current era--but listeners may. L.T. © AudioFile 2025, Portland, Maine [Published: APRIL 2025]