Scott Hayden’s Reviews > Blacklisted!: Hollywood, the Cold War, and the First Amendment > Status Update

Brilliant point made by "Eric Johnston, president of the Motion Picture Association of America.... It was impossible for the film industry to defend itself against a generalization."

A theme of the book is voiced through actress Myrna Loy, "We question the right of Congress to ask any man what he thinks on political issues."

Reminds me of the CA exec who had to resign because of his stance on proposition 8

Through the mouth of one of the "unfriendly' nineteen, the author admits more oppression by the Soviets.

At the same time, this point is well made: that the antics of HUAC seem just as oppressive.

Author, Larry Brimner, lists various congressional committees investigating threats in a time of rising Fascism, Nazism, and Communism. Some of these committee members made accusations, which opponents said were unsubstantiated.

Thirty-six pages in, the author finally acknowledges that Russia's communist revolution was violent. Yet, within a paragraph he plays down that violence by claiming that a special Senate committee was responsible for "painting communism and communists as barbaric because of the violence that had occurred during the Russian Revolution."

The only thing the author says about communism itself is that "the government owned all industries and property as part of its attempt to create a society where everyone was equal; private ownership of property was forbidden." That's it. No admission of the millions imprisoned, tortured, enslaved, and killed under communist rule. What is this author up to?

Disappointed. The beginning makes the "Red Scare" sound like nothing more than social hysteria. Neither on the inside front flap, nor in the introduction is any mention of the USSR's betrayal of the allies in its refusal to release East Germany from its grasp. The author does not acknowledge USSR take over of eastern bloc, nor the violent suppression of anyone who might even hint at disagreeing. I'm disturbed