The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism

by Haynes Johnson

For five long years in the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s  anti-Communist crusade dominated the American scene, terrified politicians, and destroyed the lives of thousands of U.S. citizens.  In The Age of Anxiety, now updated with a new afterword, Johnson tells this monumental story through the lens of its relevance to our own time, when the current administra­tion has created a culture of fear that again affects American behavior and attitudes. 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.

Genres: History, Politics, American History, Nonfiction

624 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

In his four decades in journalism, Mr. Johnson was widely esteemed for his coverage of domestic affairs in general and of the capital in particular.

source

Reviews

[Luke Fina]

I hate this country

[Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Age of Anxiety: McCarthyism to Terrorism is an excellent chronology of the Mcarthyism period of American politics by Haynes Johnson. Johnson tells this story by first telling the story of McCarthy's political beginnings and how his particular brand of statesmanship came about. The middle is made up of explaining the events of the 1950's and the efforts surrounding McCarthy from both sides. Exploring the elements of McCarthy's brand of politics (McCarthyism) and the connections between modern political events make up the end of the book. This format makes the book easy to follow and Johnson made an excellent choice in combining that format with clear language that makes his point. Due to these decisions I found the book easy to understand and follow along making this book an easy recommend for others interested in the time period or politics. All in all a good book that I found quite interesting so 4/5.

[Brett Van Gaasbeek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a history teacher, I am always on the look-out for books to read right before I teach a specific subject. I have always been a little too lax on my 1950s history, so I picked up this book from the library in order to bolster my knowledge of the McCarthy-era. This was written by a veteran political reporter who felt distressed by the 2004 election and the polarization he saw at that time. Reading this book about the demagogue Senator from Wisconsin who was a self-proclaimed "Communist-fighter" for our government, when in reality he was smearing the good names of many good and loyal government officials, was very intriguing. His use of "The big lie" along with name-calling, bullying, and the press as the "court of public opinion" has me wondering what this author would say about the current political climate. While I see his frustration with the Bush administration's Patriot Act and other hard-line conservative actions against terrorism, I think his conclusions on the parallels between McCarthy and Bush are a little too broad of a jump. However, I think he would have an easier time with this administration, as the more I read of the book about McCarthy, the more I saw the face of Trump. The book is very well written and gives the details of the life, the rise, the fall, and the death of one of the most controversial figures in American history. Well worth the read.

[Joel Larson · Rating 3 out of 5]

great mccarthy biography. Not so good parallels with bush. much better if he could have seen or inserted Trump into the equation

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it difficult to discuss this book. It is an excellent biography of McCarthy, an exhaustive history of the related trials, and a look inside the senator's head. That said, it is dogged by editorializing, weak allegory (twice alluding to McCarthy's Nazi tendencies...despite two of his closest associates being Jewish), and a poor parallel between McCarthy's spree and the Bush administration's War on Terror.

All of that said, Johnson does highlight the increasing demagoguery and witch-hunting in American politics. As we now live in an age where you are either a Nazi or a Communist, and your entire reputation and career can be demolished with the press of a button, I believe that Johnson would have done well to have published this fifteen years later. Prescient, informative, and well-researched, but unsatisfying in the end.

[Gregg · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are probably lots of lessons to learn from this book, but the problem is, it's too late to learn them as per the post-9/11 culture and the Bush campaign of 2004. The problem is, Johnson doesn't convince when he ties McCarthyism to today's "you're either with America or for the terrorists" mentality. He more or less juxtaposes them and draws some interesting parallels (did you know Prescott Bush, Dubya's grandfather, spoke out against McCarthy after the Army hearings? neither did I. Fucking hell.) So I don't know that he makes any revolutionary synthesis of history, but it's still well worth the read. (Audio performance, though abridged, is entertaining performance.)

[Rich Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gives historical perspective to what's going on now. The same things that happened in the '50s are happening now.

[Patrick Poopypants · Rating 5 out of 5]

More relevant today than when it was written.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely well done history of the McCarthy era. Wish Haynes Johnson could update it to the present!

[Fernando Pestana da Costa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very interesting book about the times of McCarthysm: the grim years of 1950-1954 when American politics was dominated, nay paralyzed, by the anti-Communist crusade of Senator Joseph McCarthy. Being not the first time, nor indeed the last, that scare tactics and the politics of fear was paramount in American life (the Red Scare following the revolution in Russia and the present day tactics of the Bush administration are the two most notorious examples) the McCarthy era stuck in the collective memory not only of the United States but worldwide as the most infamous example of the misuse of power in a democratic society. In an era when a new ''age of anxiety'' has settled in, this stupendous history of those bygone years, written with the verve and insight of Haynes Johnson, provides an understanding of the past that is likely to be vital in interpreting the present.

[Photovy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read 5 years ago. Interesting history on how McCarthy exploited fear for political gain. One huge takeaway was the Eisenhower hated McCarthy, especially when McCarthy went after Gen. Omar Bradley, but Eisenhower stayed quiet because he needed McCarthy's support to be re-elected. It parallels to how fear played a role in US policy after 9/11. Also goes into the delicate balance of liberty and security. How much freedom are we willing to give up to be safe? Maybe too much?
Good interview with the author
https://www.c-span.org/video/?190107-...

[Len Boselovic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Understanding history provides the comfort of knowing that the U.S. has overcome fear-mongering, xenophobic, hate-spewing Republicans in the past. Johnson's post-9/11 account of McCarthyism does that, but it also warns that these dark forces will always threaten democracy. As will moderate Republicans and Democrats who are afraid to stand up to these bullies. A thoughtful treatment of the role of politicians and the media in abetting this existential American threat and in failing to address it.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As far as I can tell, the author wrote a biography of Joe McCarthy and then decided it needed to be more relevant to today so inserted a few references to 9/11 and the Patriot Act and then added on a sort of extended epilogue. Would have been better to just focus on McCarthy and name the book as such...and cut 50-100 pages even from that as it's a bit bloated.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What has developed in recent decades is an America in which increasingly large groups of citizens have less contact with other elements of society."

True in 2005

Truer in 2025

[Ilze · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book is flawed, but reading it is still worthwhile. It tells in a detailed, yet riveting way the story of Joseph McCarthy, a vicious drunken power-mad schemer who managed to hold America spellbound with fear of communist infiltration. It is chilling how no one, even President Eisenhower himself, would risk standing up to this man. The book also tells of Roy Cohn, a lawyer whose efforts to obtain special treatment for one of his friends in the Army eventually played a hand in leading to the Army-McCarthy hearings which became McCarthy's downfall.

I say the premise is flawed because the author attempts to assert that America is in the same situation today with regards to fear of terrorism rather than communism. He fails to make this connection however, as he speaks of post-9/11 detainment of persons with expired visas and such-like, and references to Abu Ghraib, which he describes as "horrific". (I don't know, Abu Ghraib just never struck me as another Auschwitz. Maybe I'm just jaded. Most of those "shocking" pictures just looked like frat boy stunts, but I digress.)

The author also makes much of the Bush re-election campaign against John Kerry, and the political commercials that were used. I did vote for Kerry, but I'll admit the real reason Kerry lost was that he was dull as a rock, and never even tried to raise the nation's ire against Bush & company's many abuses of civil liberties, and deceptions concerning the Iraq War.

But if you're interested in the story of Joseph McCarthy, this is still a good book to read.

[Doris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This history of McCarthyism, which is the efforts of Joe McCarthy and his band of zealots to wield power to supposedly end the "threat" of Communism in the American government. This audio book came with 8 disks, and 7 of them were dedicated to the history and the outcome, along with the damage, of McCarthyism. I would have enjoyed hearing this back in the day when I was struggling to understand this attack on Americans by McCarthy.

However - when the final disk tried to compare McCarthy and his rabid search for Communists to the Bush administration and their search for terrorists, it fell flat. Too many of the parallels it drew were things that are common - there are schisms in government. There always will be. There are always people who are different, there are always people who don't understand each other. So be it.

Overall, as a history, this is excellent. As a parallel and a warning, it falls short. Johnson offered no new insights, no new thoughts, and no real actions that can be taken to head off any more disasters. I would suggest that anyone wanting to compare terrorism to communism read additional material on the fanatics of the Middle East, keeping in mind that each author has some blind spots, this one included.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once I got into this book... I really got into it.

The vast majority of pages details the five years that Senator Joseph McCarthy hunted Communists in the government. The final few chapters compare it to the second Bush administration's hunt for terrorists.

Joseph McCarthy seems more three dimensional and real to me now. He really was a different kind of a man - someone who has no desire to be honorable, and is willing to say and do anything in order to win fights and get power.

Haynes did a great job writing a very detailed, dense book. He definitely doesn't like McCarthy, but doesn't rant. He also does a good job of sharing the blame for McCarthy's power; he admonishes the rest of Congress for being too scared to oppose him (and says the same about modern Democrats).

My biggest take away from this book was that without an educated electorate, terrible things can happen! If voters had been able to see through McCarthy's (and Bush's) scare tactics, then the rest of Congress could've actually acted on what they felt was right instead of worrying about getting re-elected!

[Kenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is 95% about McCarthyism - and it is a good description of that. I would have given it 4-5 stars if it was billed as a biography of McCarthyism.

It was not so billed, however. The idea that the one chapter at the end, along with the epilogue (the only two post-McCarthy/ism chapters), somehow tells the story of a single age (ignoring the decades that came between McCarthy and Bush II) is not serious. And while parallels certainly exist, Johnson fails to offer any new insights into how or why the second period came about (McCarthyism Johnson describes as a result of the anxiety arising from the start of the cold war, the creation of nuclear technology, and other dramatic shifts in global hostility and human power).

If you want to compare the two periods, this is a perfectly good book about McCarthyism, but supplement by reading others. I recommend Angler or Dark Side in particular.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haynes Johnson draws striking parallels between the ways in which McCarthyism and Terrorism have sparked anxiety and fear in our country; he describes the highly effective tactics (extremism, divisiveness, bullying, character assassination) used by both McCarthy and George W. Bush and surrogates to serve their own interests and agendas; and he examines and deplores how politicians, the press and the public have succumbed to/been manipulated by these tactics. Johnson argues that we're now living with McCarthy's legacy - extremism, and the hatred and fear it engenders. He laments that McCarthism "remains a story without an ending." This book is highly readable, at times a real page turner. I always enjoyed Haynes Johnson when he appeared on The News Hour. Now I'm a fan of his writing as well.

[Kirsti · Rating 4 out of 5]

God bless you, Haynes Johnson, for reminding us that McCarthyism can always come back if we're not careful.

I read this sentence--"From then on, McCarthy always referred to the vice president [Richard Nixon:] as 'that prick.'"--and thought, okay, Senator Joseph McCarthy and I agreed on ONE THING.

The parts about recent McCarthyesque events are not as compelling because they don't coalesce around a single power-crazed individual and because there's so much about the recent scandals that is as yet unknown. But judging by the headlines in the paper this weekend about Dick Cheney's authorizing a secret CIA project, my wish may yet come true, unfortunately.

I started out listening to the audiobook rather than reading the book, but the audio version is edited drastically. Not badly, though--it's just so much shorter that you miss most of the nuances.

[Robbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to somewhat form a topic for my National History Day Project this year, which my teacher is requiring to be an American Event. I decided to go somewhere along the lines of the "Communist scare" in the later half of the 20th century, and this book was quite fitting.
Easy to read and understand, the Age of Anxiety was very detailed and engaging upon the principle of McCarthyism, and effectively transports that principle to present day events, particularly terrorism. Haynes Johnson feels a little liberal at times, but I ignored it and read the book for pure fact. Filled with excerpts from primary sources, this will definitely become a key piece of research for my NHD project.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not exactly what I predicted when I picked up the book. This was more of an in depth biographical study of Joseph McCarthy, rather than a text drawing connections between McCarthyism and terrorism. As a result, this acted as two separate reads: a dry look at an atrocious Senator, and a quick (100 pages or so) look into the past.

The latter portion of the book was what I was interested in, and I feel that it was extremely well done. Johnson traces our fears of McCarthyism to the decisions that are made today. He did a nice job of staying grounded, and through his own admission does not equate the two, rather suggests there are some relevant connections to be made.

Pretty good read. Very damning for conspiracy theorist though...

[Kerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not having access to the actual book, I gave the audio version a try, which is a reminder why I avoid audio books: time commitment, the reader's (often poor) attempts to imitate voices or accents, and the need to be one an audio-centered learner.

Two hours in and I was still learning information I already knew: McCarthy was a self-interested, power-hungry creature who ruled by fear. It was grating to hear his words repeated out loud. In print books, it's possible to skim long-winded quotes that often simply repeat the evidence already paraphrased. Not so with audio books, which, if you are doing something useful with the time while listening, do not enable easy fast-forwarding to the essential parts.

[Scott Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are ever in the mood to just be mad or skandalized, this is the book for you. After reading this book you'll want to slap someone. I say this not to suggest that the book is not good or is poorly written. I say this to suggest that McCarthy and his "ism" has to be one of the most abominable moments in American History. And, unfortunately, McCarthy couldn't have done what he did if the mood of the American people hadn't been so in harmony with his supposed goals. Whether or not one accepts the book's second part--that the Bush Presidency is analogous to the McCarthy period--shouldn't affect one's appeciation for the research and insights found in the first part. A great read.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up thinking that I was not going to like the content due to the subtext on the back and my caution when reading political books... But I am glad I gave it a chance. It makes one ponder over underlying concept of the human race continually making the same blunders no matter how many times people tend to repeat "never again". I never really took into consideration comparing the McCarthy era to the Bush... makes one think about the racial profiling and the inhumane treatment that has been brought upon those of a certain ethnicity then and now...It also had some great content on the McCarthy era.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are expecting to read about the Bush administration, this is not the book for you. Almost the entire book is about McCarthy with a one chapter at the end about the Bush administration. Nonetheless, it is a good read - an example of how fear was used to persuade the general public and how the press wants to report the juiciest stories without first examining their validity. It's scary that a country with free press and free elections can still be persuaded to elect someone like McCarthy.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Almost all of this book is devoted to a rehash of McCarthyism - ground that has been well covered by others. At the very end, the author makes a comparison to the repressive policies of the Bush presidency, such as the Patriot Act, but concedes that McCarthyism was much worse. It almost seems as though Haynes Johnson wrote this book in anger at the Bush Administration, especially given the excellent quality of his other work.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first two thirds or so of the book about McCarthyism is fantastic. I wasn't as impressed with the part about the Bush administration... maybe it's just a "too soon" reaction, but I didn't buy all of the comparisons, especially concerning the campaign for the 2004 election. It ends with a call for public service that I think is worth reading.
All in all, I think it would be worth the time to just read the (absolutely crazy) history of Joe McCarthy and then set it aside.

[Sierra Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book on McCarthyism that covers more ground and makes more connections than any other politics/history book I've ever read. The in depth study of historical actions, figures and societal effects was fascinating. It was the perfect summer read.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

non fiction compares Bush's administration with the time of McCarty interesting comparisons and rather scarry when you think how helpless were are and were when there is a mass campaign to smear with fear