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Books : Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's EnemiesIn association with Amazon.comRating:  - Who Will Tell The People?With the focus on the opening salvos of the Cold War and Senator Joe McCarthy, author M. Stanton Evans pens a chilling account on how history and news is written, twisted & interpreted and its ramifications in domestic & foreign policies. Peeling back layers of fiction that has been taken for fact, Stanton Evans reports on a number of disturbing issues; missing documents in federal archives, copies of media coverage of events permanently lost and the continuing disinformation that - in the present - destroys the past for those wishing to seek real answers to historical questions. The research is outstanding and the book is a grim reminder on the lost and found nature of history surrounding Sen. McCarthy, the Cold War and the games played in the offices of the most powerful players in The Beltway. Rating: - Shocking and should be required readingUnlike all other histories of the period, including a recent op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Evans thoroughly documents every one of his assertions. No innuendo, no truisms, nothing to be taken on faith. It turns out that McCarthy was not evil, he was just honest and happened to be right. The Roosevelt/Truman/Eisenhower administrations could never forgive him for showing up their flaws and set out to destroy him. Spying for the Soviets was perhaps inappropriate, but proving it was cause for character assassination. It's a shame that a whole generation and then some has been poisoned with lies in books, magazines, and movies about a man who just tried to protect his country. Rating: - Best book on McCarthy ever writtenFinally a book which covers all aspects of the McCarthy question and traces the sources for his words and actions. I have read all of the major works on McCarthy (pro and con) and Evans' book is singularly THE BEST I have ever seen. Everyone interested in 20th century American history should own a copy and give a copy as a present to family and friends. It is hard to imagine that anyone will ever surpass Evans' attention and explanation. THE BEST! Rating:  - Cold War WarrierI had always wanted to know about McCarthy and the era that he lived in and especially learn about the fall of China to the communists. This book is so different from anything I have ever seen or heard in the past. It tells the whole truth about what happened to McCarthy. I did not realize there had been so much political in-fighting on the security issues from the various political parties. The cover ups occurred not because people were looking for truth but were protecting their own political territory. It showed how the old boy network was much more important than finding out the truth. I could not believe how many questions were not answered and how Annie Lee Moss was not brought back for charges of perjury. The book even explains that everyone knew about it. The downfall of McCarthy wasn't that he was looking in the wrong places or for the wrong people, except for Marshall, but the fact that he made people look ridiculous because he was right. Therefore, everybody was out for revenge against him. According to Verona it looks like we did at least 57 card carrying communist in the state department. When you see how this is belittled by the democrats in future they make it synonymous with 57 Heinz varieties in the movie the Manchurian Candidate as a frivolous number that a buffoon can easily remember. I was amazed on every point how history seemed to be so wrong from what you see in the movies and hear about in the past. The part when Evans told the true story about Fred Fisher and what Welch did for the TV camera in the statement "Have you any decency". To find out that Welch had already ousted this guy weeks earlier just blew me away. I was very impressed by McCarthy and his career, where he had come from and actually how far he had come. I found out that on the most part he was courteous and civil to the people he was cross examining. It was only when the witness told him they were going to be helpful and they got on the witness stand and were belligerent, like the General from Monmouth, that he went into a fury. The best historical part of the book is the telling of how and why China fell to the communist and how the fellow travelers inside the state department got away with it. I would recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in history and what caused events to happen in the period after WWII and the fall of China to the communists. It is very eye opening. The book style uses a myriad of legal language so be prepared with your dictionary for that. Rating: - reader commentsI saw the CSpan author review on the book...thought that it would be good to read. I read more interesting history than I ever learned in academic classes. Puts a different perspective on politics and the makings of foreign policy. This was not an easy read in respect to his vocabulary ... not everyday words but, worth the time....did improve my vocabulary. What I did like along with the information is that the book is well organized and if I need to refer back to the writing...VERY easy. Good ideas and analysis and supportive sources for the ideas and analysis. |
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