Cover of Naming Names

Naming Names

by Victor S. Navasky · 1980

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With a New Afterword by the Author

"An astonishing work concerning personal honor and dishonor, shame and shamelessness. A book of stunning insights and suspense." —Studs Terkel

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Half a century later, the investigation of Hollywood radicals by the House Committee on Un-American Activities still haunts the public conscience. Naming Names, reissued here with a new afterword by the author, is the definitive account of the hearings, a National Book Award winner widely hailed as a classic. Victor S. Navasky adroitly dissects the motivations for the investigation and offers a poignant analysis of its consequences. Focusing on the movie-studio workers who avoided blacklists only by naming names at the hearings, he explores the terrifying dilemmas of those who informed and the tragedies of those who were informed on. Drawing on interviews with more than 150 people called to testify—among them Elia Kazan, Ring Lardner Jr., and Arthur Miller—Naming Namespresents a compelling portrait of how the blacklists operated with such chilling efficiency.

Subject
historyhistoryMore like thisLess of thispoliticspoliticsMore like thisLess of this
Themes
American historyAmerican historyMore like thisLess of thisjournalistsjournalistsMore like thisLess of thishistoryhistoryMore like thisLess of thispoliticspoliticsMore like thisLess of this
Setting
20th century20th centuryMore like thisLess of thisCold WarCold WarMore like thisLess of thisUSAUSAMore like thisLess of this
Audience
adult
Length
long · 528 pages

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