SQUARE ONE

by Arnold Forster ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1988

A tightly focused memoir of a one-track career--for 46 years, Forster (The New Anti-Semitism, 1974) has been the chief attorney for the Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith. Fifty years ago, the US was by no means sheltered from the more ugly anti-Semitic displays that saw their nadir in Hitler's Germany. Anti-Jewish commentary was rife in the 30's and 40's here, too, perpetrated by such popular figures as Father Coughlin, Gerald L.K. Smith, and Fulton Lewis, Jr. Unfortunately, Forster concludes that subconscious prejudice against Jews remains just as virulent today as it was 50 years ago. While Forster has written about all of this before, his new volume is a more personal work reflecting his many experiences and confrontations with some of the famous (and infamous) people of our times. One of the more touching vignettes involves Forster's high-school chun Julie Garfinkel, who later became famed actor John Garfield. Meeting in late'r years, when Garfield was smeared during the HUAC hearings, Forster attempted to clear the actor's name while Garfield pretended that they never knew each other in the past. Another poignant episode has Forster interceding on behalf of Walter Winchell (a Jew) to find out the truth behind a rumor that Dore Schary (a Jew) was on the verge of converting to Catholicism. Schary explodes at Forster for the invasion of privacy, then is humbled when he realizes Forster was only attempting to save him from the gossip mill. And then there's Senator Joe McCarthy, drunk in a restaurant and worried about a story that he had been at a party where homosexual incidents had occurred: ""Listen, I can prove I once slept with three different women on one weekend. That would make my case, wouldn't it?"" Forster replied, ""No. That might prove only that you're a degenerate."" An entertaining memoir from a man who has worked hard to render fallow the ripe fields of bigotry.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1988

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Donald Fine

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1988

Categories: NONFICTION