THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE: Senator Joseph R. McCarthy and the Politics of Hate

by Robert Goldston ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 29, 1973

Goldston comes through as can be expected -- topping previous McCarthy biographies with his hard-hitting analyses of how Republican desperation, sensation-hunting press moguls, proliferating government security investigations, the cowardice of Eisenhower (and just about everyone else) and, finally, the first reverberations of future shock all contributed to the moral paralysis that gave McCarthy his power. Tail-gunner Joe himself emerges as a Senator with a not untypical background and a pathological, often pathetic, need for attention. McCarthy's career has been ably dissected before -- notably in last year's Joe McCarthy and McCarthyism by Roberta Feuerlicht -- but Goldston's backup commentary -- whether on the anatomy of anti-communism or McCarthy's psychology -- is more pertinent and more powerful.

Pub Date: Nov. 29, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Bobbs-Merrill

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION