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Books > History > American history
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The Lavender Scare (Paperback, New edition)
Loot Price: R814
Discovery Miles 8 140
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The Lavender Scare (Paperback, New edition)
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The McCarthy era is generally considered the worst period of
political repression in recent American history. But while the
famous question, "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the
Communist Party?" resonated in the halls of Congress, security
officials were posing another question at least as frequently, if
more discreetly: "Information has come to the attention of the
Civil Service Commission that you are a homosexual. What comment do
you care to make?"
Historian David K. Johnson here relates the frightening, untold
story of how, during the Cold War, homosexuals were considered as
dangerous a threat to national security as Communists. Charges that
the Roosevelt and Truman administrations were havens for
homosexuals proved a potent political weapon, sparking a "Lavender
Scare" more vehement and long-lasting than McCarthy's Red Scare.
Relying on newly declassified documents, years of research in the
records of the National Archives and the FBI, and interviews with
former civil servants, Johnson recreates the vibrant gay subculture
that flourished in New Deal-era Washington and takes us inside the
security interrogation rooms where thousands of Americans were
questioned about their sex lives. The homosexual purges ended
promising careers, ruined lives, and pushed many to suicide. But,
as Johnson also shows, the purges brought victims together to
protest their treatment, helping launch a new civil rights
struggle.
"The Lavender Scare" shatters the myth that homosexuality has only
recently become a national political issue, changing the way we
think about both the McCarthy era and the origins of the gay rights
movement. And perhaps just as importantly, this book is acautionary
tale, reminding us of how acts taken by the government in the name
of "national security" during the Cold War resulted in the
infringement of the civil liberties of thousands of Americans.
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