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About This Book
ISBN13: 9780151010622 |
Synopses & Reviews
Publisher Comments:
Johnson tells this monumental story through the lens of its relevance to our own time, when fear again affects American behavior and attitudes, for he believes now, as then, that our civil liberties, our Constitution, and our nation are at stake as we confront the ever more difficult task of balancing the need for national security with that of personal liberty.
Compelling narrative history, insightful political commentary, and intimate personal remembrance combine to make The Age of Anxiety a vitally important book for our time.
Extremism-and the suspicion and hatred it engenders-may be Joe McCarthy's most lasting legacy . . . For these and other reasons, while McCarthy and the leading players of his time- Truman and Acheson, Eisenhower and Nixon, the Kennedy brothers and LBJ, Cohn and Schine, Stalin and Mao-have long since passed from the scene, McCarthyism remains a story without an end. -f rom the book.
Review:
Book News Annotation:
Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Book News Annotation:
Synopsis:
Table of Contents
To the Reader xi
Prologue A NEW KIND OF WAR 1
PART ONE
McCarthyism
1. The List 9
2. Tail Gunner Joe 30
3. Progressivism to McCarthyism 56
4. The Remarkable Upstart 75
5. The Way to Wheeling 81
PART TWO
The Past as Prologue
6. In the Beginning 95
7. Cold Warriors 117
PART THREE
Dealing With a Demagogue
8. The Press 137
9. The Politicians 149
10. The Network 162
11. The Opposition 177
12. The Demagogue 193
PART FOUR
Prelude to Power
13. Twenty Years of Treason 211
14. Taking More Scalps 241
15. Junketeering Gumshoes 253
PART FIVE
Witch Hunts
16. Inquisitions 285
17. The Case of Private Schine 332
18. Point of Order! 381
19. "Have You No Shame, Senator?" 413
PART SIX
Judgment
20. Belling the Cat 431
21. Oblivion 443
PART SEVEN
Legacy
22. The Politics of Fear 459
23. Parallels 466
24. A House Divided 494
Epilogue THE AGE OF ANXIETY 515
About Sources 530
Source Notes 532
Bibliographical Notes 569
Acknowledgments 581
Index 583
What Our Readers Are Saying
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michaelintp, May 20, 2008 (view all comments by michaelintp)
“The Age of Anxiety” is unapologetic from the outset in displaying the biased perspective of its author. The flood of vitriolic adjectives flowing from its pages reveals that Haynes Johnson is not a historian, but rather a partisan ideologue who engages in tactics remarkably similar to those he attributes to Senator Joseph McCarthy.
Through the fog of his hyperbole, Johnson looks at the 1950s without having to dwell on inconvenient figures like Alger Hiss, who really was guilty after all. In a 500-page book, Mr. Johnson only fleetingly mentions the Venona Project, which documented plenty of Soviet espionage and Communist treason during the McCarthy Era.
The Venona Project was a top-secret program that began in 1943 in which Soviet cables between KGB offices in Moscow and the United States were decoded. The decryptions from the Venona Project were first released on July 11, 1995, close to half a century after Senator McCarthy delivered his speech concerning subversives in the State Department. They have provided insight into the depth of Communist espionage in America, including in senior government positions. The full extent of this treason will never be known. Less than half of those found in Venona were identified, amounting to over 150 unknown spies. Communist subversion within the government was a reality, not a McCarthy myth.
For anyone interested in the McCarthy Era and its implications for today, this book is an amusing diversion. However, for purposes of obtaining a rounded picture of the historical reality, it should only be read in conjunction with “Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies” by M. Stanton Evans and “Joseph McCarthy: Reexamining the Life and Legacy of America's Most Hated Senator” by Arthur Herman. The former is available at Powell's Books.
Product Details
- ISBN:
- 9780151010622
- Subtitle:
- McCarthyism to Terrorism
- Editor:
- Silberman, James H.
- Author:
- Author:
- Publisher:
- Harcourt
- Subject:
- Political
- Subject:
- Terrorism
- Subject:
- United States - 20th Century
- Subject:
- Political History
- Subject:
- Legislators
- Subject:
- United States - 20th Century/50s
- Subject:
- Political Freedom & Security - General
- Subject:
- Government - National
- Subject:
- Political Ideologies - General
- Subject:
- POL030000
- Copyright:
- 2005
- Publication Date:
- October 2005
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Language:
- English
- Illustrations:
- Y
- Pages:
- 609
- Dimensions:
- 932x638x142 217











