Reds

My latest foray into nonfiction is a huge, 614 page tome on American anti-communism and the roots of McCarthyism in 1950s America: Reds: McCarthyism in Twentieth-Century America, by Ted Morgan. It is hefty and dense, but it is also a fascinating dissection of the history of the Communist party in America and the fallout from the Bolshevik Revolution and Soviet espionage before, during, and after World War II. One does get the feeling throughout the book that Morgan may be trying a bit too hard to convince the reader of how dangerous the Soviet threat was during the 1930s and 1940s -- his tone and language convey the idea that Soviet spies surrounded us everywhere. Still, since the release of the code-breaking Venona transcripts and the de-classified McCarthy hearings, it is an important examination of one of the most fearsome times in American history.