Clay Risen joins the Exchange to discuss his latest book, “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America.”
Clay Risen is a reporter and editor at the New York Times, and author of "The Crowded Hour: Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders," which was a finalist for the Golder-Lehrman Prize in Military History.
Risen is a member of the Society of American Historians and the author of two other acclaimed books on American history, “A Nation on Fire: America in the Wake of the King Assassination” and “The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act.”
In his latest book, “Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America,” Risen provides historical context for the current political dynamics in America. He argues that widespread fear-mongering across the nation isn't new. The political machinations of right-wing conservatism in Congress we're witnessing today isn't new. The hostile targeting of media by conservative political leaders isn't new. The labeling of ordinary Americans as dangerous, as "anti-American," "socialist," and "communist" isn't new. History is being recycled.
Risen's book lays out factual stories with supportive evidence in a comprehensive (and condemning) manner that reveals deep insights into the McCarthy era which emerged on the political scene following WWII and destroyed the lives of innumerable Americans. This book offers historical lessons for America today, which appears to be repeating a similar rise of political fear-mongering that the nation experienced twice before in the 20th century.
