Review of
Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America's Enemies by M. Stanton Evans
What's it about?:
Blacklisted by History by M. Stanton Evans is a book that attempts to set the record straight on Joe McCarthy and if communist infiltration did indeed occur within the United States. In the mainstream telling of American history, Joe McCarthy is usually portrayed as a paranoid reactionary who falsely accused people of being communist agents. The author lays out the case for why he believes Joe McCarthy was right and that most of the depictions of McCarthy and the trials surrounding McCarthy are false.
Who is the Author?
Before I get into the book, I would like to briefly talk about the author. Medford Stanton Evans was born on July 20th, 1934 in Kingsville, Texas. He graduated Yale with a Bachelor of the Arts and he did graduate work in Economics under Ludwig Von Mises at New York University. One of the main influences on Evan's thought was Frank Chodorov, who he would work with while employed at The Freeman. Evan's would become associates with William F. Buckley and they would both help found Young Americans for Freedom. Evan's himself was a sort of libertarian conservative who identified with the ideology of fusionism. He would spend most of his life working for various journals and even was an activist for both the Barry Goldwater and Ronald Regan presidential campaigns. He died March 3rd, 2015 at the age of 80 in Leesburg, Virginia.
What's in the book?
The book itself is not just about Joe McCarthy or the events that immediately surrounded him, it also contains other information about supposed communist infiltration, and the events that led up to Joe McCarthy. From the origins of the United States relationship with the Soviet Union and Communist China, to other people who investigated communist infiltration before McCarthy, and even information about who Joe McCarthy actually was like before and during the events he is most famous for. The book is also jam packed with listed sources, so if you are interested in the topic, you can look into them.
My Impressions of the Book:
I found the book to be quite informative, convincing, and I was surprised at how nuanced the author was. You can obviously tell that he is on McCarthys side, but he is able to step back at moments and look at the issues at hand with very little bias. The book itself is over 600 pages and can be a bit of a hard read at times since there are many characters and events to keep track of, but I never found it overwhelming. Overall I recommend this book to those interested in the Cold War and I would rate it a 8.5 out of 10.