A good American family : the Red Scare and my father

Intro; Dedication; Epigraph; Author's Note; Part One: Watching One Another; 1. The Imperfect S; 2. In from the Cold; 3. Outside the Gate; 4. Red Menace; 5. Wheelman Wood; 6. "Negro, Not Niggra"; 7. A New World Coming; 8. A Brief Spanish Inquisition; 9. The Runner; 10. Named; 11. Ace and Mary; 12. Fear and Loathing; Part Two: In a Time of War; 13. Something in the Wind; 14. Legless; 15. Know Your Men; 16. Why I Fight; 17. In the Blood; 18. The Power of America; Part Three: Trials and Tribulations; 19. The Virginian; 20. Foley Square; 21. Committee Men; 22. A Good American Family;-- A Good American Family powerfully evokes the political dysfunctions of the 1950s while underscoring what it really means to be an American. It is an unsparing yet moving tribute from a brilliant writer to his father and the family he protected in dangerous times. "In a riveting book with powerful resonance today, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss captures the pervasive fear and paranoia that gripped America during the Red Scare of the 1950s through the chilling yet reaffirming story of his family's ordeal, from blacklisting to vindication. Elliott Maraniss, David's father, a WWII veteran who had commanded an all-black company in the Pacific, was spied on by the FBI, named as a communist by an informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet he never lost faith in America, and emerged on the other side with his family and optimism intact. In a sweeping drama that moves from the Depression and Spanish Civil War to the HUAC hearings and the end of the McCarthy era, Maraniss weaves his father's story through the lives of his inquisitors and defenders as they struggle with the vital twentieth-century issues of race, fascism, communism, democracy, and First-Amendment freedoms. A grandmother spy who worked for the FBI; a committee chairman who once belonged to the Ku Klux Klan; an uncle who joined the International Brigade to fight against Franco in Spain; a black civil liberties lawyer who equated defending American communists with the fight for black equality; a famous playwright who paved the way for Elliott from Brooklyn to radical politics at the University of Michigan; a disabled veteran on HUAC who later came to regard that period as "days of shame"--these are among the compelling characters we encounter along Elliott's unforgettable journey. A Good American Family powerfully evokes the political dysfunctions of the 1950s while underscoring what it really means to be an American. It is an unsparing yet moving tribute from a brilliant writer to his father and the family he protected in dangerous times."--Jacket Named a Best Book of 2019 by NPR and The Washington Post . In a riveting book with powerful resonance today, Pulitzer Prize–winning author David Maraniss captures the pervasive fear and paranoia that gripped America during the Red Scare of the 1950s through the chilling yet affirming story of his family's ordeal, from blacklisting to vindication. Elliott Maraniss, David's father, a WWII veteran who had commanded an all-black company in the Pacific, was spied on by the FBI, named as a communist by an informant, called before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1952, fired from his newspaper job, and blacklisted for five years. Yet he never lost faith in America and emerged on the other side with his family and optimism intact. In a sweeping drama that moves from the Depression and Spanish Civil War to the HUAC hearings and end of the McCarthy era, Maraniss weaves his father's story through the lives of his inquisitors and defenders as they struggle with the vital twentieth-century issues of race, fascism, communism, and first amendment freedoms. A Good American Family powerfully evokes the political dysfunctions of the 1950s while underscoring what it really means to be an American. It is an unsparing yet moving tribute from a brilliant writer to his father and the family he protected in dangerous times. Intro Dedication Epigraph Author's Note Part One: Watching One Another 1. The Imperfect S 2. In from the Cold 3. Outside the Gate 4. Red Menace 5. Wheelman Wood 6. "Negro, Not Niggra" 7. A New World Coming 8. A Brief Spanish Inquisition 9. The Runner 10. Named 11. Ace and Mary 12. Fear and Loathing Part Two: In a Time of War 13. Something in the Wind 14. Legless 15. Know Your Men 16. Why I Fight 17. In the Blood 18. The Power of America Part Three: Trials and Tribulations 19. The Virginian 20. Foley Square 21. Committee Men 22. A Good American Family 23. March 12, 195224. The Whole Pattern of a Life 25. Witches or Traitors Part Four: Five Years 26. American Wanderers Epilogue: Second Acts Photographs Acknowledgments About the Author Notes Selected Bibliography Illustration Credits Index Copyright "A personal story of the author's father's involvement in HUAC that offers a rich portrait of McCarthy era America"-- Provided by publisher